She looks back saying, “I have seen Rishi Kapoor grow in his life. I can definitely say that he was one of the most straight forward, honest persons I came across, because he isn’t the kinds who are superficial or fake in front of others. I think this was one of his best qualities of being undiplomatic. He was a very no-nonsense person. If you over step or cross your boundaries and be rude to him then he wouldn’t tolerate that.”
The actress who has worked with him in multiple films like Dosti Dushmani, Yeh Hai Jalwa, Namastey London among others admired him as an actor and co-star. She says, “He was such a fine actor. As a co-star I truly liked him. Even on the sets he was very non-pretentious. If he is not in a good mood, he would show that he is not in a good mood. Otherwise, he was completely fun-loving where he would joke around with the whole unit. Even though he was Raj Kapoor’s son and hailed from this legendary film family and was a successful star he never let all that over-shadow relations. That was the warmth he generated wherever he went. Whenever I visited him at his home, I was treated so well. The Kapoor-hospitality was very legendary. Rishi and Neetu made such a lovely pair. I must say that the way Neetu conducted herself before marriage, through her married life and even today is much commendable.”
Sharing her last few memories with him she adds, “All through his illness I used to message him when he was in New York (under treatment). I used to check on his health, wish him a happy birthday and I would immediately get a reply from the other side. He was very prompt at it. In fact, with his sense of humour he won’t send a simple message saying, ‘I am doing fine or I am okay’, but his responses would make me laugh. For instance, I was put up somewhere abroad and I messaged him to check on his health and he replied asking, ‘Arre tu India mein nahi hai? Phir kaha hai? Kya kar rahi hai waha? Shaadi kar rahi hai kya? Settle ho rahi hai waha?’ I would burst out laughing.”
“Chintu always thought he knew English better than anybody else. I used to make fun of him saying, ‘You are a 10
th pass and I have done my graduation so don’t challenge me.’ We used to have these kind of arguments over a game of scrabble too. He is someone who would always correct you even if you made minor faux pas in English. I started acting at a very young age and seeing this actor who’s so well-versed and polished I would get intimidated sometimes. But later as when began to know each other well I started retorting back. I wouldn’t stay quiet and just give it back to him (laughs),” she says.
