Rishi Kapoor’s Kolkata connection

Rishi Kapoor is no more but the memories of the beloved actor during his childhood days are crowding the minds of a Bengali family in south Kolkata. Bollywood’s Chintu ji had a long connection with the City of Joy. At a tender age of six Rishi used to visit the residence of eminent director Debaki Bose in south Kolkata’s Mudiali with his grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor.

The long corridors of the three-storied house in Mudiali’s were the place where Rishi used to play during his childhood visits to Kolkata.

Fondly recalling the memories of little Rishi, Debakumar Bose, son of Debaki Bose said that he loved sliding down the railing of a long staircase at the house.

Debaki Bose’s grandson Debashish recalled how the members of both families used to sit on the floor of a long veranda of the house during meals and his aunts and grandmother served food to them.

Debashish said at that time there were no large dining tables but both the families were rather large and hence there was no other option but to sit on the floor for lunch and dinner.

“It was 1958. At that time Rishi Kapoor used to come to our house with his grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor. It was on this balcony Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor along with our family members used to sit on the floor and our aunts and grandmother served them food,” said Debashish.

However, the Kapoor’s connection with Debaki Bose’s family was not just limited to Rishi. His grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor found his first major success on the silver screen in Bose’s film Seeta. Bose was widely acclaimed for his unique use of music and sound in cinema.

Rishi in his autobiography Khullam Khulla recalled how his grandfather received praise from Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore for his performance in a play called Seeta in Kolkata.

“So when his (Tagore’s) friend, B.N. Sircar, producer and founder of New Theatres, decided to turn Seeta into a motion picture, Tagore suggested that he cast Prithviraj and Durga in it. Seeta, the film, was a blockbuster. Thus began the Kapoor khandaan’s tryst with the Hindi film industry,” wrote Rishi.