Late actor Rishi Kapoor was a short-tempered man and if stories from his memoir are to be believed, Rishi knew how to hold on to a grudge. In one of the chapters of his autobiography, Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored, Rishi shared that he was terribly upset with lyric writer Javed Akhtar. Rishi explained that Javed had once accused Raj Kapoor for the untimely death of lyric writer Shailendra on a public platform, and this upset Rishi terribly as his late father wasn’t around anymore to defend himself. Shailendra was one of the core group members who worked with Raj in many of his films and the two shared a warm friendship.
Rishi shared in his book during a television programme dedicated to Shailendra. “Javed blamed my father for the
lyricist’s untimely death. I cannot fathom why. Perhaps it was to spice up the episode. Quite a few people have told me that he has always had a hang-up about my father.” Rishi said that he did not “not appreciate his baseless, irresponsible and false accusation.”
Rishi recalled Javed’s accusations which were mainly about the making of the film Teesri Kasam, which was produced by Shailendra, and starred Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman. “Javed had claimed that Shailendra died because of the debts that piled up during the making of his film Teesri Kasam (1966), a film my dad worked in. He alleged that Papa had delayed the film with the result that Shailendra had run up those debts. I wonder what debts he was referring to because my father paid for everything and he was not paid for the film either. He even completed the film with his own funds,” he shared.
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Waheeda Rehman and Raj Kapoor in Teesri Kasam.
The making of Teesri Kasam was quite troubled but Raj had apparently done the film for just one rupee, and Waheeda too, never discussed any commercials with Shailendra as he was working with a tight budget. Raj wanted to changed the ending of the film, but Shailendra stuck to his guns. Rishi said that Raj did not want Shailendra to make the film, as he perhaps understood the troubles of being a producer. Rishi alleged that Shailendra “died because his own brother-in-law cheated him.” He added that Raj, in fact, cleared Shailendra’s debts and wrote, “My father took it upon himself to pay Shailendra’s hospital bills and cleared all his debts. I have checked this with all the senior people who worked with RK, I have asked my mother about it, I have interrogated everyone who was around at that time.”
Rishi expected Javed to issue a public apology and wrote, “I think Javed should publicly apologize for his defamatory statement or furnish substantial proof that my father had anything to do with Shailendra’s death. Having made such an accusation, he should have the courage to back it up with evidence or admit that it was a mistake,” he wrote.
Rishi said that he was “extremely fond” of actor Shabana Azmi, who is married to Javed Akhtar and so he never allowed the “situation to get out of hand” but he did warn Farhan about the same. “But I did tell Farhan Akhtar at a party that Anil Ambani had hosted for Steven Spielberg that I was extremely upset, and that one day my patience would wear out and it wouldn’t be pleasant. I am a patient man, but I have never been afraid of anyone and I don’t mean to start now,” he wrote.
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