Highlights
- Rishi Kapoor, 67, died on Thursday in Mumbai
- "I will miss him for many things," wrote SRK
- "Heartfelt condolences to the Kapoor Khandaan," added SRK
The best memory of Rishi Kapoor was saved for the last. Shah Rukh Khan shared his tribute for Mr Kapoor on Thursday night - by then, social media was a veritable tsunami of tweets and posts about the actor, who died in a Mumbai hospital on Thursday morning at the age of 67. SRK's Rishi Kapoor story - from the first day of filming his very first movie, 1992's Deewana - was definitely waiting for. "I was insecure about the way I looked and afraid that I was not talented enough. The thought of failing meant nothing though, because even if I failed I would have worked with the greatest actor I knew of - Rishi sahib," SRK wrote. What Mr Kapoor told the young Shah Rukh Khan that fateful first day helped him become SRK.
"On the first day of shoot, he sat for my scene to finish after pack up. Then with that famously radiant smile on his face, he said, "yaar tujhme energy bahut hai! That day in my head I became an actor," Shah Rukh Khan revealed in his post, "I will miss him for many things but more than all of them, I will miss him for the gentle pat on my head every time we met. I will keep it in my heart always as the 'aashirwaad' that made me who I am today."
Read Shah Rukh Khan's post here:
Deewana, co-starring Divya Bharti, was Shah Rukh Khan's debut film. He would later reunite with Rishi Kapoor in 2012's Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Divya Bharti, the top female star at the time, died tragically the next year.
Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan were among Rishi Kapoor's visitors in New York, where he spent the better part of a year being treated for cancer. After SRK's visit, Neetu Kapoor wrote on Instagram, To make people feel good about themselves is a rare quality! Shah Rukh is all of that his love care is so so genuine! Besides his amazing work I admire him as a very good and a real human being."
Rishi Kapoor returned from New York last September. He was taken to hospital on Wednesday and died on Thursday morning. Mr Kapoor was cremated with only very few family and close friends in attendance because of the lockdown. He was "jovial" to the end and "would like to be remembered with a smile and not with tears," the Kapoors said in a statement released after his death.