‘Rishi Kapoor refused to do workshop, agreed only when Amitabh Bachchan…': 102 Not Out director on the two actor's relationship

Indian Express

9 hours ago

102 Not Out director Umesh Shukla recently opened up about working with Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor on the film. During a podcast, Umesh shared some interesting anecdotes about both the actors and pointed out their dedication towards the craft. He even revealed how Rishi Kapoor had immense respect for Amitabh Bachchan, and recalled how Chintuji was quite moved by Big B's performance in the film.
Talking about 102 Not Out, Umesh revealed how it was to work with actors who were quite different from one another. He recalled, 'It was an experimental film we made with two yesteryear superstars who have different acting patterns – Rishiji believed in spontaneity, while Big B is a method actor. He is so perfect that you can never tell that he has done his homework; there is a lot to learn from them, especially if they came together. They had different levels of discipline, too.'
Recalling an incident from the shoot when Rishi Kapoor only agreed to do a workshop for Amitabh Bachchan, Umesh said, 'I remember, I had said that we would do a workshop for 102 Not Out, while Big B said yes, Rishiji refused. He said, 'We usually get the script and we act on it', but when I told him that Mr Bachchan had agreed to do the workshop, he also agreed. Chintuji had immense respect for Bachchan sahab. They have done so many films together, and the relationship I have seen between them was brilliant.'
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Umesh even shared another incident about Rishi and Amitabh's discipline. He said, 'Both of them were playing Gujarati characters, something they had not done earlier. I had said that when we act on the set, actors will not wear slippers because Gujaratis don't wear slippers at home. I used to keep the set very clean so that they wouldn't have any inconvenience. I used to tell both of them that they could wear slippers in close-up shots, but they were so disciplined that they wouldn't.'
Umesh spoke about another interesting anecdote about the late Rishi Kapoor, revealing that the actor wasn't big on giving a take two. 'Chintuji didn't like retakes; he would say that what he delivered in the first take was always the best. He was an actor who wanted proper reasoning for a retake. Sometimes he would just confuse the director by checking how much he knew about his job. If he was convinced by the reason, he never used to argue. Before 102 Not Out, I had worked with him in All Is Well, so we had a strong relationship. People had told me that he hated doing night shifts, but in All Is Well for me, he had worked for 16 nights with cribbing. Even in 102 Not Out, he never complained about it; in fact, he would tell us stories about how he would get irritated to act at night, but that never happened with me,' Umesh shared.
He further added, 'Even with Mr Bachchan, if he knew that it was a script's requirement, or we gave him a valid reason for retake, he would never complain. He has always been a director's actor, and that was a big deal for me. All big actors strive for perfection; they want the scene to look its best. He would call me so many times after pack-up, asking if we could reshoot something. He looks at the script after packing up too.'
While Umesh Shukla narrated stories of both the actors being fond of each other, he mentioned one particular day when both Rishiji and Big B couldn't shoot or dub. Rishi Kapoor got so emotional seeing Mr Bachchan in one scene that he just couldn't shoot. 'Once Chintuji had come for dubbing, and usually you see the full scene first, and then you dub. He saw one scene and became so emotional that he said he couldn't dub that day. 'Dekho kitna bada actor hai yeh Bachchan, yeh aise hi Bachchan nahi hote hai' (See what a great actor this Bachchan is, you just don't become a Bachchan like that). He said he thought he was great in the film, but seeing Big B's scene was beyond his imagination. He didn't shoot that day, went home, and sent a huge bouquet to Big B. That speaks volumes about him. Big B also got very emotional when he saw that scene.'
102 Not Out had been released in 2018, and the film was well acclaimed.