Ganesh Utsav came to an end on Sunday and among many devotees who gave Bappa a grand send-off were the Kapoors. Ranbir Kapoor along with his father Rishi Kapoor and uncles Randhir and Rajiv Kapoor took the Ganpati idol residing in RK Studio in Chembur for the last 10 days for immersion. This could be the last Ganpati Utsav celebrated at the iconic studio started by Raj Kapoor in 1948. The Kapoors confirmed in August that the grand studio, where Raj Kapoor shot films such as Shree 420 (1955) and Mera Naam Joker (1970), is up for sale. On Sunday, Ranbir, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor (like they do every year) took part in the procession starting from Chembur.
Rajiv Kapoor, the youngest of Raj Kapoor's five children, danced to the chants of "Bappa Morya" and also tried his luck with the manjire. Here are pictures from the grand send-off to Bappa:
Ranbir Kapoor cracked open the naryal before starting the procession.
Rishi Kapoor paid obeisance to Ganpati at RK Studio
Ranbir Kapoor waved to his fans during the procession
Rajiv Kapoor danced like no one's watching
Earlier this month, Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor brought Bappa to RK Studio on Ganesh Chaturthi and performed the first aarti of the day together. Bappa's pandal was open to all devotees for 10 days of Ganesh Utsav.
In August, Randhir Kapoor confirmed to news agency PTI that the Kapoor family has decided to sell off RK Studio as it was incurring losses after a fire in 2017 gutted a main studio. "Yes we have taken the decision to sell RK Studio. It is already up for sale. After the fire that broke at the studio it was not viable to build the studio again... It was not economically viable to do it again," he was quoted as saying.
Fans of Raj Kapoor and several industry insiders were heartbroken about the family's decision and also shared alternative use of the studio spread over 2-acre. Some suggested that it could be converted into a Raj Kapoor museum (precious memorabilia from Raj Kapoor's film was destroyed in the aforementioned fire) while some added that the property can be used as a filmmaking school.
