Irreplaceable void, says Karan Johar as he recalls childhood hero Rishi Kapoor

Filmmaker Karan Johar has written an emotional post on Instagram on the demise of veteran actor Rishi Kapoor, whom he knew since childhood. The two also collaborated on films produced by Johar.

Karan Johar went back in time to when he was a kid to share a memory related to Kapoor. “I was seven years old and overheard that my parents were invited to a preview of Duniya Meri Jeb Mein (1979). It starred my favourite Rishi Kapoor. It was school night and my very particular mother refused to let me come with her. I threw such a tantrum because I couldn’t bear the fact that I was being disallowed from seeing a Chintu Kapoor film. The parents finally succumbed. I went... with stars in my eyes... like I had every time I saw him on celluloid... He was my hero!” he said.

Johar added that he used to recreate Rishi Kapoor’s way of dancing and singing when he was a kid. He said he almost fainted when he met the star for the first time. “When I met him for the first time in Cochin on the sets of my father's film Duniya (1984)... I looked at him like he was a monument that I wanted to keep marvelling at... When I directed him in Student Of The Year ( 2012) I shed a tear silently after he gave his first shot. A major childhood dream was actualized,” said the filmmaker. 

Apart from Student Of The Year, Kapoor has collaborated with Johar on his productions like Agneepath (2012) and Kapoor & Sons (2016).

Mourning the loss, Johar added, “Today I feel like an irreplaceable void has crept into my existence. A piece of my growing years has been snatched away. I am honoured to love him, to know him, to have a drink and reminisce with him. I still will. How can the romance of Indian cinema ever leave us? Never. Dard-e-dil... but this legendary legacy will live on! I love you Rishi Kapoor.”