With 1.09 million followers and the ill-informed Congress shouting slogans outside Krishna Raj, his Pali Hill bungalow, Rishi Kapoor has further settled into the groove of twitter celebrity. (Ill-informed because Rishi and Neetu have temporarily shifted into spacious apartments on three floors of a building in another part of the same suburb while their Pali Hill bungalow is being reconstructed.)
When Rishi got his first taste of stardom after Bobby , he used to be called Richie Rich because he seemed so much more privileged than everybody else around. But King Midas would probably have been a better nickname for him since everything he touches has a way of turning into gold. It's one of the many qualities Rishi shares with Amitabh Bachchan. In fact, the commonalities between them make Rishi-Amitabh a rather unique pair of actors.
At 73 going on 74, Amitabh is the older actor (Rishi is 63, will be 64 this September) and he stepped into films in the late 60s, a few years before Rishi debuted in the early 70s. But they ran on parallel tracks for the next two decades. Rishi was the only romantic hero of the 70s who could withstand the onslaught of the angry young man and carry on with business as usual. Being extremely disciplined actors, when they did come together for a film, each stood his ground but worked companionably without any fireworks off camera. (Rishi and Amitabh have worked together in films like Amar Akbar Anthony , Ajooba, Naseeb , Kabhie Kabhie and Coolie .) This was unusual in the 70s because films that co-starred Amitabh with Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna or Shatrughan Sinha, were always marked by conflict and combustion. Dharmendra and Shashi Kapoor were the only two actors, apart from Rishi, who worked amicably with AB. But only Rishi flourished as a romantic hero during the angry young man wave, notching up a fine two-decade innings just like Amitabh.
Another similarity is that they are the only two mainstream heroes who have done exceptionally well in their second innings as well. If Amitabh rose to the challenge in a film like Paa , Rishi Kapoor was the unique factor that prevented Kapoor & Sons from falling down as yet another two-brother family drama. If you study the films Amitabh and Rishi have done long after they gave up chasing the heroine, both of them have had the most interesting roles of their lives offered to them after turning character actors. And they get a better fee today than they did as heroes. It is a rare space to be in.
They are both also very confident actors who are comfortable speaking from a public platform, even though Amitabh has always had the edge over Rishi. He was the superstar, Rishi was more a reliable actor. They're both twitter celebrities but AB has a 20.9 million following; Rishi has 1.09 million. Amitabh is articulate in English and Hindi and can recite poems and couplets without rehearsal; Rishi is simply a good speaker. But that's the quality Rishi has. Despite advantage AB, Rishi stands up to him on all fronts and he makes his presence felt because of his outspokenness and clarity. Rishi is unafraid to make a flutter and ready to take on the Gandhis or any political party - he'd also tweeted about being a beef-eating Hindu and had reacted to Nitish Kumar's ban on alcohol by declaring he wouldn't go to Bihar.
On the other hand, AB sits on the fence especially on all matters political; his twitter interactions are thus like benign fireplace sessions on movies and moments with a favourite grandparent.
Relatives by marriage after Amitabh's daughter Shweta married Rishi's nephew Nikhil Nanda, it's interesting how these two actors have constantly run successful parallel lives. They're both married to actresses, both their wives (Jaya, Neetu) suspended their careers until the kids grew up, both men have attractive daughters who didn't venture before a camera and preferred to settle down with non-film husbands in Delhi, and both men revel in the role of real-life grandfather.
At one time, both of them also gave delightful interviews - this was before political correctness diluted AB's frankspeak. The only area Rishi hasn't ventured into is a TV studio where Amitabh has reigned supreme. Although AB has often told me that he himself wouldn't have been able to answer most of the questions he asked contestants on Kaun Banega Crorepati , his graciousness and gravitas - or thehrav, as they say in Hindi - made him the most formidable show host on Indian TV. It would've been interesting to see if Rishi could have pulled off a similar assignment.
Meanwhile, one does wonder, when the relevant political parties didn't protest Rishi's tweets on beef and liquor, why the intolerance when it comes to the holy cows of the Congress party?
Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author
