New Delhi:
Neetu Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor were married for 40 years and had two children-Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and Ranbir Kapoor. On April 30, 2020, Rishi Kapoor died after battling leukaemia for two years. There have been several reports circulating over the years about Ranbir Kapoor having a ‘formal’ relationship with his father Rishi Kapoor, and that he is closer to his mother Neetu Kapoor.
In a recent conversation on Soha Ali Khan’s podcast All About Her, Neetu Kapoor opened up about fights with the late Rishi Kapoor, and how their children were scared of him.
What’s Happening
- Neetu Kapoor shared how Rishi Kapoor intended to have certain boundaries in his relationship with children Ranbir Kapoor and Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and did not want them to get too close.
- The Daadi Ki Shaadi actress said, “My husband wanted to keep that, ‘I am the father, don’t get too close to me, keep that distance’. So he never got friendly with Ranbir or Riddhima because they should have some fear. They were scared. There was that kind of a fear. He wanted that.”
- Furthermore, speaking of their daughter Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and her starting late in her career, Neetu Kapoor added, “I always encouraged Riddhima but she chose her life. It wasn’t like my husband told her, ‘Don’t work in movies.’ That’s what she chose. Today, she wants to work, she is working. She wanted to devote her time to her husband, her daughter, that was her priority.”
On Fights With Rishi Kapoor
Furthermore, Neetu Kapoor opened up about her relentless fights with Rishi Kapoor, some that went on for months. She elaborated that most often she would find it difficult to put her thoughts across as the Hum Tum actor would not listen to her. This simply led her to turn silent until he made up.
Neetu Kapoor shared, “I used to go on this cold war and the cold war could go on for a month, six months. I would not bend till the time he didn’t ask me, ‘What’s your problem?’ And he would do that.”
She continued, “And then he would say ‘Acha bata yaar, kya hai? What’s your problem? Let’s sort it out.’ I would say, now that you have come to me, now, you listen to me. Because otherwise, he would just not listen.”
Neetu Kapoor also added that when all tactics failed, he would call up their children Ranbir Kapoor and Riddhima Kapoor Sahni to find out what was happening with her.
Recalling how her mother-in-law would joke about their “40 years of marriage”, Neetu Kapoor recalled, “So when I would tell people that I have been married for 30 or 40 years, my mother-in-law would say, ‘You are only married for 20 years because you haven’t spoken for 10 years’.”
Ranbir Kapoor On His Relationship With Father Rishi Kapoor
Ranbir Kapoor had written in the foreword to Rishi Kapoor’s autobiography Khullam Khulla, “I am closer to my mother. I feel that Dad modelled his relationship with me on the one he shared with his own father. And it is true that I have never crossed a certain line with him. But there is no sense of loss or vacuum here. I do wish sometimes that I could be friendlier with him or even spend more time with him.”
Speaking of his own failure as a father, Rishi Kapoor had said at his book launch, “I was extremely busy during Ranbir’s childhood days and he was more close to Neetu probably he felt that he needs his father but I’m sorry I just can’t and I’m failed. I can’t be a friend father to a son. I was never that way with my father as well. You have to accept the way I am.”
About Rishi Kapoor And Neetu Kapoor
Neetu Kapoor did 11 films with Rishi Kapoor and gave up everything for her family. In January 1980, Neetu and Rishi got married at RK Studios in Chembur, Mumbai.
After losing Rishi Kapoor to leukaemia in 2020, Neetu Kapoor went through a lot of hardships as she revealed in the same podcast. From seeking therapy to taking to alcohol, she ultimately found her strength to bounce back by immersing herself in work.
