New Delhi: Irrepresible as he is in most of the characters he’s played in his films, this could well be actor Rishi Kapoor’s most scathing attack yet in real life. Just that, this time his ire is directed towards his own superstar son, Ranbir Kapoor.
In an almost tell-all interview to Mumbai Mirror on Thursday, the veteran actor bared his heart on the ‘hurt’ to him and his wife Neetu Singh after Ranbir moved out of their house.
That things weren’t too comfortable between the father and the son was known in the industry for a long time now, this is perhaps the first time the family has openly acknowledged it.
The report quoted Rishi Kapoor as saying: “I know I’ve screwed up my relationship with Ranbir even though my wife kept telling me about what I was doing. It’s now too late to change it; both of us will not be able to adjust to the change. It’s like there’s this glass wall, we can see each other, we can talk, but that’s it. He doesn’t live with us anymore, which is also a very big setback to Neetu and me. We’re building a new home where there will be a lot of place for him and his family. Till then, life goes on.”
Rumour has it that Rishi was not happy with Katrina Kaif, Ranbir’s girlfriend, frequenting his house. That his wife Neetu, too, didn’t like Katrina has been an open secret for a long time in the industry: Last year, she surprised everybody when Katrina’s picture was cropped from a family album and everybody knew it was done at Neetu’s insistence.
In the midst of preparations for his next film Kapoor and Sons, Rishi, however, didn’t shy away from praising his son. “I’m told, and I’m very proud of it, that Ranbir is very well behaved, polite, down to earth, decent, cultured, well-spoken, warm, and respects his elders. The credit for all this goes entirely to Neetu. I was diametrically opposite when I was his age, being arrogant and brattish, but what the hell? It was 1974, I was being paid a salary of 5 lakh a month and half the world was crazy about me,” he said. “But now I’ve mellowed.”
Admitting that he is not a friend to Ranbir, the interview further quoted Rish as saying, “Out of respect I was always very scared of my father. I don’t know about Ranbir; of course he respects me, but I’ve never been friends with him and that is my biggest drawback. It’s also a deep regret but again, I don’t know. Only time will tell if it is something that’s good or not. I used to drink with my dad, though out of respect, I never smoked in front of him. Similarly I can share a drink with Ranbir, but he doesn’t smoke in front of me though I know he smokes. I never made friends with Ranbir and though I regret it, I am also not one of those guys who would want to be on back-slapping terms with my son.”
