When Rishi Kapoor Turned Villain, And Later Regretted It

Rishi Kapoor always grumbled about not getting to do black or grey. “Why are they always casting me as a bhala insaan? There is dark side to every human, me also. I’m dying to explore that,” he once told me.

It isn’t as if he never got to play negative roles. He did. Right after his star launch in Bobby, Rishi wanted to play a diametrically opposite character. While Raja in Bobby was pure-hearted, simple, kind and generous, Arjun in Zehreela Insaan was ill-tempered, foul-tongued, brutish and unpredictable. The only one who could control him was his Masterji, played by Pran (who had played his tyrannical father in Bobby just months earlier). In a fit of rage, Arjun kills his beloved Masterji and then jumps to his death with his girlfriend Margaret (Neetu Singh). No wonder, Zehreela Insaan flopped miserably. It was a remake of the Kannada hit Naagarhaaavu.

In Khoj (1989) Rishi Kapoor did a whodunit, where he turned out to be the killer! And boy, did Rishi enjoy the change of image!! Brazenly inspired by Michael Anderson’s Chase A Crooked Shadow, Khoj featured Kimi Katkar as Rishi’s wife who goes missing during their honeymoon. All of inspector Naseeruddin Shah’s investigation leads to Rishi Kapoor.

Recalling the thrill of playing a murderer Rishi Kapoor had said, “Director Keshu Ramsay had probably chosen me because of my innocent face and my goody goody lover boy’s image. Who would think I’m a killer?”

In Karan Johar’s Agneepath (2011) Rishi Kapoor shocked the world by playing a butcher who indulges in the trafficking of minor girls.

He was supremely happy with his role. “My character was not there in the original Agneepath. I am an actor. It was a challenge to play such a repugnant character. I convinced myself into doing the film. My wife also encouraged me to do the role. I am very proud to have played such a terrible villain. This is one role that I was really scared of playing. All the credit for seeing me in that role must go to producer Karan Johar and director Karan Malhotra. Hats off to their foresight. And then Karan Johar cast me in radically different role in Student of the Year,” said Rishi to me.

In Nikhil Advani’s D Day (2013) Rishi Kapoor as a Dawood doppelganger had a whole lot of fun with this evil character. “I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed myself so much,” he told me after completing the film.

In Aurangzeb as the incurably corrupt cop Ravikant Phogat lording over his own crime syndicate Gurugram, Rishi Kapoor stole the show from the entire vast cast which included Jackie Shroff, Amrita Singh, Tanvi Azmi, and Arjun Kapoor in a double role.

In spite of the wah-wahs for his dark red-hot evil act in Aurangzeb, Rishi was vehemently opposed to playing villainous roles. “I don’t want my granddaughter Samara to grow up and see her grandfather playing these nasty characters. After Agneepath and Aurangzeb, I have one more dark role (as Dawood Ibrahim in Nikhil Advani’s D Day). Then no more villainous parts for me.”

Why did Rishi agree to be the baddie when his heart was not in it? “It’s intentional. I wanted to prove myself as an actor. Log bol rahen hain ke Ranbir Kapoor achcha actor hai lekin yeh bhool gaye ki Rishi Kapoor bhi actor hai (People say that Ranbir Kapoor is a good actor but forget that Rishi Kapoor can act too). Today, loads of work is coming my way. I’m at liberty to pick and choose.”

Sadly, someone up there heard him.