Karan Malhotra: In a way, Rishi Kapoor launched me in Bollywood

Karan Malhotra’s debut film as a director was

Agneepath

(starring Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt), a homage to Yash Johar, visualised by his son, Karan Johar. The film featured Rishi Kapoor in his rare, negative role. The actor played a goon and a butcher in the film who indulges in flesh trade of another kind, too. Few would know that Rishi Kapoor was not the original choice for the part but his performance in the film redefined his second innings in a big way. It helped him break further away from his romantic-hero image, which he had lived with for many, many years. Prior to Agneepath, Rishi had teamed up with Habib Faisal and wife

Neetu Kapoor

for Do Dooni Chaar in which he played a middle class man from Delhi.

When we reached out to Karan Malhotra, who had directed the film, he said, “I have not been able to stomach the act that uncle is no more. He trusted me with what I had set out to do with Agneepath. In a way, he launched my career in Bollywood with his performance. My father and Rishi uncle were close friends and we would often talk about my dad. In fact, talking to him made me feel very close to my father. With his demise, it feels like a strange vacuum has been created which will never be filled.”