When Javed Akhtar Got Drunk & Told Rishi Kapoor That If Sholay “Makes Even One Rupee Less Than Bobby’, He’d Break The Nib’ Of His Pen And ‘Never Write Again’ In His Life…”
Rishi Kapoor, in his autobiography, spoke about his first weird encounter with Javed Akhtar, which wasn't very pleasant
When Javed Akhtar Got Drunk & Told Rishi Kapoor That If Sholay “Makes Even One Rupee Less Than Bobby’, He’d Break The Nib’ Of His Pen And ‘Never Write Again’ In His Life…” – Deets Inside (Picture Credit: IMDB)
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Late actor Rishi Kapoor was among the most popular actors in the yesteryears and enjoyed a massive fan following. He came from the prestigious ‘Kapoor’ Khandaan but made a niche for himself in Hindi cinema and portrayed some of the most iconic characters in Hindi cinema. Back in the day, in his autobiography, Rishi mentioned meeting Javed Akhtar at a bar in Bengaluru after Bobby was a hit in Mumbai and revealed the details about his interaction with the lyricist who was drunk ‘to his gills’. Scroll below to read the scoop.
Rishi had gone to Bengaluru to release his film and learned that the Sholay crew was staying at a hotel where he had planned to go back in the day. The first person that he noticed at the hotel was Javed, who was sitting there and drinking. However, their first interaction wasn’t that great.
Rishi Kapoor wrote in his autobiography, “The first person I noticed was a strange man sitting at the bar and looking at me with what seemed like disdain. I didn’t quite understand what he wanted from me. A little later, he came up to me and asked, ‘Are you, Rishi Kapoor?’”
Rishi Kapoor continued and wrote, “He introduced himself as Javed Akhtar. He could have been the king of England for all I cared. Besides, Salim–Javed had not yet become the Salim–Javed. I knew they had written a few films like Zanjeer and Yaadon Ki Baaraat (1973), but I wasn’t in awe of them. Javed said, ‘You must be very happy that Bobby is such a huge hit.’”
Javed Akhtar then congratulated Rishi for Bobby’s success and started talking about his and Salim Khan’s hit rate in Bollywood. For those who don’t know, the legendary duo wrote ‘Yaadon Ki Baaraat’ in 1972, ‘Zanjeer’ in 1973 and would present ‘Haath Ki Safai’ in 1974. In 1975, Akhtar told Kapoor that they would make such a great film ‘that if it makes even one rupee less than Bobby’, he’d ‘break the nib’ and ‘never write again’ in life.
Rishi wrote about their weird encounter, “The man was drunk to the gills but his confidence was phenomenal. Bobby had done unprecedented business and to predict that an unreleased film would break its record or else he would quit his profession was brave, if not foolhardy.”
And the rest is history. Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan have written some of the most iconic screenplays in Bollywood history, and Rishi Kapoor himself was a legend.
