By Subhash K Jha
BOLLYWOOD: Bollywood’s lover boy Rishi Kapoor, who passed away on Thursday in Mumbai, was very close to his mother Krishna Kapoor. He credited his mother with keeping their family together. This is what he said about his mother five years ago on Mother’s Day – May 10.
“Of course, I’d love to talk about my mother. But why on Mother’s Day only? Every day should belong to the people you love the most. I refuse to slot my loved ones according to a day of the week….Mother’s Day, Father’s Day…can you believe it, they even celebrated a Grocery Day! And if that isn’t enough they also had an Asthma Day! I refuse to discuss my mother as just a special person for a day. Having said that I don’t mind talking about her any day of the year. But where do I begin? What do I say? What can one say about one’s own mother?
“Whatever we as a family are today is because of her. I am still her bachcha. Can you believe it? I am going to be 63 and she still fires the hell out of me. She advises me on where to go, and how to conduct my life. I keep telling her that I am old enough to make my own decisions. My daughter is married. My son is now living away from home. I am a grandfather. Let me make my own decisions, for God’s sake, I’m a grown-up man. But she doesn’t listen! But seriously, I want to make my mother happy.
“My childhood memories with her are of school holidays in Jabbalpur. My Nanaji lived there. So we’d visit twice a year, summer and winter. There my mother would be the happiest with my uncles and aunts. Apart from being the wife of a celebrity, she was also a celebrity-sister. My maternal uncles were the actors Premnath and Rajendranath. My mother had tremendous endurance power. She is an amazing shock absorber. She stood steady through all my father’s stormy work pressures and all other stress. There were times when they had problems. But she overcame all the trauma . With 5 children to look after, she still managed to keep her family life beautifully together. It is said, bardasht ki hadd hoti hai (There is a limit to endurance). Not with her. She made sure my childhood was very lovely. She made sure all of us – three brothers and two sisters – had a normal happy childhood.”
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