‘Ranbir still has him on his (phone’s) screensaver’: Neetu Kapoor remembers late actor Rishi Kapoor

Rishi Kapoor, one of the most versatile actors of the Hindi film industry, who passed away in 2020, was deeply missed on what would’ve been his 71st birthday. Despite his reputation for having ‘brash and loud behaviour,’ his wife and fellow actor, Neetu Kapoor, once revealed that he never raised his voice in front of their children, Ranbir Kapoor and Riddhima Kapoor.

Neetu previously had shared with Film Companion, “This is the way I’ll be, this is the way I’ll heal. Some people cry and heal, some people be happy and heal. I cannot forget my husband, he’ll be here, with me, with my children all our lives. Like, even today when we meet for a meal (where) half of the time we’re only discussing him, that how we miss him.”

Neetu and her children continue to celebrate Rishi’s memory. “Ranbir still has him on his (phone’s) screensaver. That’s the way we miss him, we don’t have to be sad to miss him, we can celebrate him. We remember all the good times and what a great person he was. The way he was with my children, I can’t even tell you, the way he’s nurtured them. He’s never ever screamed at them, he never raised him voice at them. He was so good,” she added.

While Ranbir had openly discussed their strained relationship, Rishi himself acknowledged it in his book. “The distance that exists between us is similar to the one between my father and me. Ranbir and I see each other through this space but can’t feel each other. At least, I can’t. There are times when I feel I’ve missed out on being a friend to my son,” he wrote in his book.

Neetu continues, “He was intimidating to the children but he never said anything to them directly. Maybe he said it through me, like ‘tell your children…’ I also used to do something like that, when I would sign their report card, I’d tell them, ‘now next year, get your father to sign your report cards,’ so I used to scare them also. These things keep happening between a husband and a wife, but he was a very very good father, he instilled some great qualities in them for which I’ll always be thankful to him. The qualities he had, were amazing, besides his brash behaviour and loudness, inherently he was a very very good human being.”

After Rishi’s passing, Neetu found solace in sharing stories about her husband and returning to films. Her presence on Instagram has been warmly received by fans, although she has faced criticism from some who expected her to grieve publicly. Neetu, however, chooses to block such negativity, opting to “heal happily” from her loss.

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