Rishi Kapoor forbade Ranbir from acting before 26, claimed ‘drought of suitable heroines’
Despite his filmography with multiple leading ladies of his time, Rishi Kapoor believed that he didn't 'pair well' with most of them due to his boyish looks. That's what he wrote in his memoir, "Khullam Khulla", where he claimed that he forbade his son Ranbir Kapoor from making his acting debut, before turning 26 years old.
"The drought of suitable heroines also meant that I could never benefit from being cast with an established lead actress," he wrote, mentioning Zeenat Aman, Moushumi Chatterjee and others, and noting the circumstances under which they were able to work together.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. He said that Zeenat wasn't paired opposite him even though they worked together "Hum Kisise Kum Naheen", and Moushumi was already married by the time they worked together in "Zehreela Insaan".
He then continued in his book, "I didn't pair well with most of the reigning queens of the time. Hema Malini was a little older than me and I could only work with her in a non-mainstream film like 'Ek Chadar Maili Si' (1986), which was about the old Punjabi custom of a young devar (brother-in-law) having to marry his older brother's widow. Rekha, Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman were around the same age but, pitched against my boyish looks, appeared older."
He then added, "Any actor who starts his career very young encounters this difficulty. Shahid Kapoor and Imran Khan also found it difficult to pair with a suitable lead actress. It was one of the reasons I made Ranbir wait till he was 26 years old before acting in his first film."
Ranbir however, made his debut at 25 years old in "Sawaariya", opposite another new-comer, Sonam Kapoor. The film unfortunately failed both critically and commercially, despite which Ranbir was able to bounce back with major hits like "Wake Up Sid!", "Rockstar", "Sanju" and many more.
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