Rishi Kapoor’s attention to details in this Aamir Khan blockbuster surprised everyone: ‘He looked at clock…’

Late actor Rishi Kapoor had a fine attention to detail, and that made director Kunal Kohli his fan for life. Kunal has directed Rishi Kapoor in his two hit films, Hum Tum and Fanaa. In a recent podcast, Kunal recalled how Rishi Kapoor improvised scenes with little but crucial inputs. 

“Attention to detail, Rishi Kapoor was a master of it. In this dining table scene of Fanaa, when Aamir Khan, Kajol, and Rishi are sitting. Suddenly they hear a doorbell, and Kajol and Aamir look at the door. But Chintuji looks at the clock. Then he explained to me the logic behind his reaction, ‘Tumhare ghar mein koi raat ko 10 baje aayega, toh tum pehle door dekhoge ya ghadi ko’.” Then Kohli recalled a similar experience while shooting Hum Tum, “During Hum Tum before we started shooting the scene, he called me and asked for a bag, few letters and keychain with 5-6 keys. When I asked him the reason for it. He said, ‘Yeh banda (his character) akela rehta hai. 5-6 keys hongi. Car hai toh garage ki chabi hogi, car ki chabi hogi. Ghar ki chabi hogi, postbox ki chabi hogi. Toh chaar chabi toh hogi. Yeh sab mujhe la ke do’. 

Kunal further asserted that Rishi’s inputs added so much authenticity to the scene. “You don’t realise all these things as an actor, but he added.” For the unversed, Rishi Kapoor revamped himself from being a romantic lead to a character actor in mid-2000 and went on to star in several successful films including Fanaa, Do Dooni Chaar, Agneepath, and Kapoor & Sons. 

Rishi Kapoor was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2018 and went to New York City for treatment. After successful treatment for a year, he returned to India on 26 September 2019. However, he was admitted to Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital on 29 April 2020 owing to breathing difficulties. Kapoor passed away on 30 April 2020 from a recurrence of leukaemia.