Padmini Kolhapure pays tribute to Rishi Kapoor: ‘He is on my mind every day of my life, my growing up years were with him’

Rishi Kapoor’s Prem Rog co-star Padmini Kolhapure said he is on her mind every day of her life as he was part of her growing up years.

They have been frequent collaborators, having worked in multiple films Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981), Prem Rog (1982), Yeh Ishq Nahin Aasaan (1984) and Pyar Ke Kabil (1987). So the news of Rishi Kapoor’s death has been an absolute shocker for Padmini Kolhapure.

Padmini Kolhapure and Rishi Kapoor in a still from Prem Rog.

“All I can say is I am a shocked I am numb and I can’t even believe that he is gone. He was a great actor, a great person, a great soul and a great contributor to the Indian film industry. He has left us and I feel a very strong personal loss for me,” she shares.

The 54-year-old says that Kapoor has and will always be on her mind. “I think of him every day, he is on my mind every day of my life , he is part of my life , my growing up years were with him, so you can imagine how big this loss is for me,” she adds.

Taking a walk down the memory lane, Kolhapure recalls how she was always a Rishi Kapoor fan, even before she joined films and it was a dream come true for her when she was cast opposite him for the first time.

“I used to bunk school and go watch Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh films. I was a fan first and then the next thing I knew I was doing a movie with him. I was sharing screen space with him. I used to love him on screen and admire his dancing and the next thing I knew I was dancing with him. It was totally surreal for me,” explains the actor.

Kolhapure also reveals after his cancer diagnosis, Kapoor would never behave like he was battling something so serious.

“I met him socially, he was his usual bubbly self, he didn’t even seem like he had gone through such a terrible time. And that is what Rishi Kapoor was. I last went to his house during Ganpati, he was in Delhi then, so we spoke over the phone,” she adds.

And the worst part she says amid such a time is that she won’t be able to go and pay her respects to him because of the lockdown. “ We can’t go and take the blessing of this great soul. The situations are such, such trying times this is for everyone.”

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