'He Was A Punjabi Bully': Anubhav Sinha Recalls Rishi Kapoor Made Excuses To Discuss Scenes With Him

The late Rishi Kapoor was known to be quite the bold personality! Known for his straightforward attitude, he often earned the title of “bully.” His wife, Neetu Kapoor, frequently described him as a “brat” and “loud.” Recently, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, who worked with Rishi on the 2018 film Mulk, opened up about his time with the actor, calling him a “Punjabi bully.”

In a chat with Mashable India, Anubhav shared a funny anecdote about how Rishi loved to hear him narrate scenes. Despite being a Punjabi himself, Rishi was playing a man from Benaras and would often say, “You read it for me.” Anubhav confessed that he found it hard to perform while Rishi was watching him. So, to keep the creative juices flowing, Rishi would make excuses just to chat about the scenes.

He recalled, “Whenever I used to narrate him scenes, he would love to hear it from me. He was a Punjabi, and he had to play a man from Benaras. He would always tell me, ‘You once read it for me’. I told him, ‘Sir, the fact that I know you are looking at me, I won’t be able to perform. So whenever I am narrating the scene to you, please hear me then. I don’t know more than that.’ So he would find excuses to discuss scenes with me.”

He later realised that Rishi was playfully making him narrate scenes and lines, calling him a “Punjabi bully.” Rishi would come up to him and ask what he had written. He added with a laugh, “Later, I realised, he was bullying me by making me narrate scenes and lines. He was a Punjabi bully. He would randomly come to me and be like, ‘What have you written here? I don’t understand. How do I say this line?’ And I used to be stunned. I would ask, ‘Why sir, what’s wrong?’ And when I would read it for him: ‘Main tumhare bina nahi jaa sakta’, he would be like, ‘Acha acha, Main tumhare bina nahi jaa sakta’.”

In the same interview, Anubhav talked about how respectful Rishi Kapoor was. He remembered that the veteran actor was a natural star. “He was a born star. He became a star at 12. He was born to Raj Kapoor, that by default makes him a star. Then he appeared in Mera Naam Joker, and everybody found him cute. Yet, he would come to me and be like: ‘Ji Anubhav Ji, bataiye’. I convinced him so much to not call me Ji. I don’t like it. And he was like, ‘You are my director, what else do I call you?’ He even used to call me ‘Sir’, and eventually he started to call me ‘Sinha sahab’. So we agreed to Sinha sahab,” he added.