As the 92nd birth anniversary of Raj Kapoor falls today (14 December), we take a trip down memory lane to look back at a video when he celebrated with his grandchildren.
Video: When Simi Garewal shot Raj Kapoor playing with young Kareena and Ranbir
Mumbai - 14 Dec 2016 10:00 IST
Sonal Pandya
Back in 2002, Kareena Kapoor appeared as a guest on Simi Garewal’s chat guest right after the grand success of the Dharma Productions multi-starrer Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001). The young star, was part of the fourth generation of the filmmaking family, the Kapoors, to join the industry. Her great-grandfather Prithviraj, her grandfather Raj and father Randhir had all been acting, producing and directing since the Hindi film industry moved into the talkie era.
Kareena’s elder sister Karisma initially faced opposition when she too joined Hindi film, but carved out her own path in the industry. Her younger sister followed her with her own debut opposite Abhishek Bachchan in Refugee (2000).
On her show, Garewal surprised Kareena with a vintage video shot by her showing the legendary showman at home with his grandkids, Kareena, Riddhima and Ranbir. In the home video, Karisma greets Raj Kapoor first with her parents and Kareena gives her grandfather a hug and a kiss.
Raj is seated on a swing and invites her and her cousins, Riddhima and Ranbir to sit beside him. Adorably, Kareena pinches Ranbir’s cheek as he settles down next to her. Kareena laughs as they swing along and eventually the talk turns to presents. It does seem like Raj was celebrating a birthday!
Raj thanks little Riddhima for the beautiful present as she cheekily asks where is Kareena’s present to him? Their grandfather moves on, however, asks Ranbir to wear ‘proper’ clothes. Ranbir defends his clothes saying, “Acha pehna hai [I’ve worn good clothes!]!” Still Raj Kapoor insists he wear better clothes.
Young Ranbir turns instead to Kareena telling her, “Kal pehnuga [I’ll wear them tomorrow]”. But she seems not to understand what he saying, allowing him to cutely repeat his sentence over and over again.
Cousins Kareena and Riddhima are the same age, born a week apart, but Riddhima chose not to join films. Ranbir has since gone on to become a big star in his own right after his debut with Saawariya (2007). Kareena is now married to Saif Ali Khan (a second generation actor and son of Sharmila Tagore) and expecting her first child this December. The baby-to-be-born will be Raj's great-grandchild.
Watch the interview here, the video from the party begins at 4:05 and ends at 6:03 -
