Rishi Kapoor was after me to write 'Do Dooni Chaar' sequel: director Habib Faisal

Filmmaker Habib Faisal had the rare honour of directing Bollywood star Rishi Kapoor in his debut movie "Do Dooni Chaar" and he says the veteran actor was keen to work on the film's sequel.

The 67-year-old actor breathed his last on Thursday after a two-year-long battle with leukaemia.

Kapoor had teamed up with his wife Neetu Singh for Faisal's 2010 movie about a middle-class family's aspiration of buying their own car.

The film was made on a small budget but was liked by both the audiences and critics when it released and won the Best Hindi Feature film at the 58th National Film Awards.

Faisal said Kapoor was pushing him to write a sequel as he believed stories of middle-class India should be told more frequently.

"I would often message him when he was undergoing treatment. And very often he would say, ‘I will be fine very soon, coming back, write the sequel of ‘Do Dooni Chaar’.

"He was badly after me to do a sequel of ‘Do Dooni Chaar’. He would say there are so many stories of middle class people and that I should make one more film as our first film was loved so much," the director told PTI.

Also read: RIP Rishi Kapoor: 7 iconic movies that prove ‘Chintuji’ is irreplaceable

The "Ishaqzaade" director said Kapoor always loved playing roles that challenged him as an actor.

"Like if there was something new like Rauf Lala in ‘Agneepath’, he had never played a villain, a malicious man, who would kill. Then he did ‘D Day’ as well. He did often say that he opened up with second innings of his, which in some sense started with 'Do Dooni Chaar'. He was open to any kind of challenge.

"With the same spirit of taking on the challenge, he fought his cancer. Neetu ma’am was there like a pillar of support. It is great to see them together. It is a long relationship there is so much banter and chemistry, amazing people," he added.

Faisal said the actor-couple who starred alongside many newcomers in the movie never made anybody feel that there is a star on the set.

"The most important thing is here is a man, a legend and he completely surrendered to a first time filmmaker and to the entire team, his experience also helped us,” he said.

The director also recalled the fond memories of shooting the film with Kapoor and Singh in Delhi.

"He is a mad foodie. We shot the entire film in Delhi in actual inroads and he made friends with people living in the colony and almost everyday somebody would be inviting us for some kind of Delhi food. And his sister would bring food. There was always so much about food."