Sharmaji Namkeen Director Hitesh Bhatia Opens Up On Rishi Kapoor’s Kulfi Scene In The Film Which Went On To Become The Last Scene Shot Before His Sad Demise ( Photo Credit – Poster from Sharmaji Namkeen, Ranbir Kapoor / IMDb )
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Rishi Kapoor was undoubtedly one of the greatest actors of his time who left a deep impact through his work in the late 1900s and early 2000s. The actor made his debut in the film industry through a small role in his father Raj Kapoor’s 1970 film Mera Naam Joker and eventually delivered multiple hits in the subsequent years. As his last movie, Sharmaji Namkeen, is all set to hit the market this month, director Hitesh Bhatia opens up on the last ever scene he shot with Rishi ji.
For the unversed, the upcoming film was in the production stage when its lead actor Rishi ji passed away in April 2020. The film was completed with Paresh Rawal playing the same character, making the first-ever Bollywood movie to have two senior actors play the same role. The plot of this movie talks about the life of a middle-aged man after retirement and the stereotypes that come with it.
In a recent interaction with Indianexpress.com, the director of Sharmaji Namkeen, Hitesh Bhatia, opened up about how the movie was completed after Rishi Kapoor’s sad demise.
He explained how they considered taking Ranbir Kapoor for the role and said, “In my head, the film was just done with because how will you finish this film when he is gone. But they (producers) gave me the strength that we will figure this out. So, we tried a lot of things from his son Ranbir Kapoor stepping into the role to taking the help of VFX and then finally, casting Paresh Rawal for the role. It took me a lot of time to believe that we could finish this film.”
Hitesh Bhatia also opened up on the last scene they shot with Rishi Kapoor. “The last scene we shot with Chintu ji was a kulfi scene. And it is such an amazing sequence to recall.”, he said.
Further elaborating on how Rishi Kapoor wanted a close up shot of a specific scene, the Sharmaji Namkeen director said, “The last shot that he ever gave, I didn’t want to take a close-up. I was like, ‘We don’t need the close-up. We are done with the scene. Let’s wrap it.’ Chintu ji, who never insists, wanted me to take the close-up as he believed it will add to the scene. The light was going badly. So, he asked the DOP to make the close-up happen no matter what. And eventually, we did the shot, not knowing it will become the last shot of his life.”
