Rishi Kapoor: The legend's five best performances of this decade
Rishi Kapoor loved movies. Starting as a child artist, Rishi never took a break from cinema and kept us entertained until his last breath. But what made him a true artist was the effortless way he shed his romantic hero image from the 70s and evolved into a spectacular character actor in the past decade. Here are Rishi's five best performances from recent years.
Rishi Kapoor pretty much plays himself in Shakun Batra's beloved family drama Kapoor & Sons. The eldest Kapoor of the dysfunctional lot, Rishi wins hearts as the happy-go-lucky, brutally-honest, and flirtatious "Daadu". If he feels the homemade cake tastes like s**t, he is going to say, while having zero qualms about it. That was also, precisely, the charm of Rishi in real life.
Rishi was never afraid of playing the bad guy. And the man proved it yet again as he portrayed the no-holds-barred goon and child-trafficker, Rauf Lala, in Karan Johar's modern-day reboot of Agneepath. As Lala, Rishi evoked dread with his surma-covered eyes in every single scene he appeared. In a movie with landmark performances from Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt, Rishi stood out effortlessly.
Anubhav Sinha's Mulk will be remembered for many a reasons. Apart from bringing into action a successful second innings for Sinha and delivering a hard-hitting tale against Islamophobia, the movie brought to light the versatility and the never-dying acting acumen of Rishi Kapoor. His portrayal of Murad Ali Mohammed, who fights hard to regain his family's lost honor, is both heartfelt and inspiring.
Habib Faisal's Do Dooni Chaar was a special film from the word go. And, it isn't hard to guess why, the movie brought back the lovely real-life couple of Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, who were a favorite back in the 70s. Rishi's character, Santosh Duggal, a humble schoolteacher, who simply dreams to buy a car for his family, is a treat to watch.
Watching Rishi as a romantic hero in the old times, one would not be able to imagine that he could play a feared gangster with as much conviction. But that's exactly where Rishi's magic comes into play. In Nikhil Advani's thriller D-Day, Rishi's portrayal of Goldman (based on Dawood Ibrahim) is compelling and lived-in to the core. Rest in peace, sir!
