‘There will be Russian girls there too’, when Rishi invited the director to the film set, Raj Kapoor’s words proved true

New Delhi. Bollywood director-editor Rahul Rawail made his debut as a filmmaker in 1980 by directing the film ‘Gunehgar’. The film starred Parveen Bobby, Rishi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar and Asha Parekh in lead roles. Rahul Rawail shared a great rapport with Rishi Kapoor. Recently, the yesteryear director opened up about his relationship with Rishi and revealed what Raj Kapoor said when he first approached him to join as an assistant.

Bollywood director-editor Rahul Rawail recently opened up about his relationship with Rishi Kapoor. He revealed what Raj Kapoor said when he first approached the filmmaker to join as an assistant.

He became an assistant director at the age of 15.
Rahul Rawail turned the pages of Bollywood history and told the story, which the world was unaware of till now. The director said, ‘I started working as an assistant director at the age of 15. However, my father was a filmmaker and such an environment was always there. But I never paid attention to it initially. During a conversation with Friday Talkies, Rahul Rawail told that since my school days I wanted to do nuclear physics and for this I was planning to go to Canada. When my exams were over, my childhood friend Rishi Kapoor called me and said, ‘Papa (Raj Kapoor) is starting the shooting of the next part of Mera Naam Joker, which was about the Russian circus.’

When the sage said, Russian girls are very beautiful…
Rishi further told me, ‘Russian circus girls are very beautiful. They are small, young and wear short skirts.’ Rahul further said that I found this idea very exciting so I went there with Chintu. On reaching the set, I saw Raj sahab working. He was a single person sitting at one place and handling a unit of 5000 people, which included Russian, Indian circus artists and the crowd. Amidst all this, he knew what he wanted. There was no confusion in his mind. He was paying attention to small details.

When I told this to my mother
Rahul Rawail further said, ‘I kept looking at them the whole day. By the time I saw them, the girls had left. The next day I went to the shooting site alone and then started going there every day. I came back and told my mother, ‘It is December now and I have to go to Canada in July itself. So, I was thinking of assisting Raj uncle during these 6-7 months.’ Mother agreed and said that father would be very happy. So, she went and talked to Raj sahab, who said yes.

Whatever Raj Kapoor said, it came true
The director further said that then he (Raj Kapoor) called me and welcomed me. I told him about my plan to go to Canada, on hearing which he started laughing and said, ‘Look son, you can go whenever you want. But let me tell you one thing. Once someone enters this industry, it is very difficult to leave it.’ That is exactly what happened. I went there for six months, which became a year and eventually, I forgot about nuclear physics.

My friendship with Chintu was special since childhood
Talking about his friendship with Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Rawail said, ‘We were together since kindergarten and shared a 60-year-old friendship. We used to talk every day, no matter where we were in the world. Even when we fought, we used to talk to each other. Let us tell you that Rishi Kapoor died on April 30, 2020 at the age of 67 due to cancer.

Tags: Raj Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor