In an age of rage, Rishi Kapoor was Hindi cinema's enduring safety valve

Saibal Chatterjee on the endearing actor who lit up the screen

Mera Naam Joker released in 1970. In Raj Kapoor’s magnum opus, a podgy Rishi Kapoor played a boy infatuated with a schoolteacher. The performance fetched him a National Award. His 50th year in the profession, 2020, began with a pandemic. But the timeless actor continued to be in demand.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and spent many months in a US hospital. But no sooner was he back in Mumbai than a major movie project — a Hindi remake of the Robert De Niro-Anne Hathaway starrer The Intern featuring him opposite Deepika Padukone — was announced. Rishi Kapoor