‘‘SOME STORIES ARE DESTINED TO REMAIN INCOMPLETE''

BENGALI DIRECTORS SHIBOPROSAD MUKHERJEE AND NANDITA ROY’S DREAM TO MAKE A FILM WITH THE LATE RISHI KAPOOR REMAINS INCOMPLETE. RAGHUVENDRA SINGH REPRODUCES SHIBOPROSAD’S HEARTFELT NOTE ON THE DEMISE OF THE VETERAN

- RAGHUVENDRA SINGH

Before the first quarter of 2018 drew to a close, it was decided that Rishi Kapoor would play the lead in our Hindi directorial launchpad. The production house in Mumbai had sent across the DVD of our Bengali film to him, which he agreed to do. We were about to begin our meetings when the news of him having taken ill surfaced. Rishiji left for New York for his treatment. The project was pushed back by a couple of months.

In February, 2019, when he was getting better, I texted him. He took no time to reply. His answer was, “Both Neetu and I have seen the film, not once, but twice. We had tears in our eyes.’’ He told me he could return well by end-July or August (2019). We got in touch with the production house. They asked us to move ahead. It was decided that we would get things finalised in New York itself. Rishiji was happy with the idea.