Delivering on his commitment to bring fresh parings this season, Karan Johar welcomed yesteryear divas Zeenat Aman and Neetu Kapoor to Koffee With Karan.
With coffee cups in their hands and broad smiles on their faces, both actresses discussed everything from kids to grandkids, and how film industry used to function back in the day.
Mohnish Singh brings the major highlights.
The Final Days
Revisiting the final days of her late husband Rishi Kapoor in New York where he was receiving treatment for cancer, Neetu Kapoor said, ‘So, Karan, for me, I don’t like to remember the sad part. I like to remember the good part of our relationship and of our time in New York. So New York was really sad but we had the best year. I had the best year of my life.’
The actress also revealed how Rishi would not openly show his affection, especially towards her and their children, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and Ranbir Kapoor but that changed during his final days.
‘Chintuji (Rishi Kapoor) is a very loving person. He had a lot of love in him. But he never really showed his love. He always kept his distance and bully people, not show his love. Especially with me and my children, he was like a big thing. Respect. And with that, he lost out on a lot with his children. He was never a friend to them.’
‘But that year, he opened up. He showed love, went towards me also. He was so lovely. We had the best time.’
The Instagram Debut
Zeenat Aman’s Instagram debut last year made headlines. KJo praised the actress for serving nostalgia with her pictures on the platform and writing beautiful captions.
Zeenat says how she discovered the platform: ‘It wasn’t me, it was my kids. It was my younger son and his partner.’
‘I think Instagram is such a wonderful platform if used correctly. It gives you a voice, provides a space to express yourself authentically, not dictated by a third or fourth-person’s definition of you. I was overwhelmed with the love and affection, completely overwhelmed.’
No Partying
Karan Johar shared an interesting anecdote from the sets of Yash Chopra’s 1976 film Kabhi Kabhie, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, and Shashi Kapoor, among others.
Remembering her time on the sets of the film, Neetu said, ‘We had a fabulous time, especially with Yashji. We would party whole night, play dumb charades, and all. That was like one picnic.’
‘But you know, I had Rishi Kapoor as my boyfriend. So, I never ‘partied partied’ because he was always like, “Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Come home.” So I never saw the wild side of partying those days. I was committed and had a very strict mother and a very strict boyfriend, so I was always torn between them.’
Sharing her story, Zeenat Aman says, ‘For me, I had a very strict mother. Shooting, home, in bed, in time. Early morning, knock on the door, up and out. I really did not party at all for seven-eight years straight. My life was studio-home, studio-home, and studio-home. But when the floodgates burst, they really did.’
‘Do you mean the men that entered your life?’ KJo asks.
‘No comments,’ she says with a laugh.
Quitting Career
KJo asked Neetu Kapoor about her decision of saying goodbye to films at a very young age.
The actress said she had already worked enough before she decided to quit her acting career.
‘Karan, you see, I started working at a very young age. I was like five,’ she said. ‘And when I did Do Kaliyan, I was so loved by everyone. Everybody was going crazy.
‘I had already seen fame at a very young age. After that, working became a job for me. It was nothing that I looked forward to. It was just that I had to go for a shoot. From age 5 to 21, I really worked a lot. I did around 70-80 movies in that period.’
Friendship With Rekha
During the course of the episode, KJo brings up friendships in Bollywood, and asks the actresses if reports of their thick friendship with their contemporary Rekha were true or not.
‘I have worked with Rekha on some films, but I think Neetu at the time was much closer to her than I was,’ Zeenat says.
‘I have not really done any work with Rekha,’ Neetu clarifies.
When KJo asked her how she built such a great friendship with Rekha, Neetu says, ‘I really don’t know how it started. She was just a very friendly person. A very sweet and warm person. She would just drop by without informing me. She was one of those girls, and I was also a very friendly girl and liked that she was very funny. She used to do a lot of mimicry.’
The Bond With Raha
Neetu spoke fondly about her year-old granddaughter Raha.
‘At my home, the baby is growing. I keep instructing the help to tell her to say papa. But Soni (Razdan, daughter-in-law Alia Bhatt’s mother) says to tell her to say Mumma.’
To this, KJo laughingly adds, ‘You are having this mini battle.’
Continuing with her story, Neetu says, ‘So, I went the other day to the house and Alia says, “Oh, by the way, she said Mumma.” So, I said, “She didn’t say Mumma but she said mum-mum. So, don’t be so happy.” She laughed and added that “She is saying Dada and not Nana”.’
Neetu says she finds Raha’s name very appropriate as whenever she sees her, she feels calm.
“I feel this name just suits her. I feel rahat (calmness) when I see her. She has got such a beautiful lovely, happy face,” she says.
The Perfect Pick
During the Rapid Fire round, Karan asks Zeenat to choose an actress from the current generation who she believes would be perfect to play her iconic character of Rupa in a hypothetical sequel to her film, Satyam Shivam Sundaram.
Without blinking an eye, Babusha — as her mum called her — names Deepika Padukone.
Karan then asks her about her ideal pick for the actress who could best portray her in a potential biopic.
Zeenat picks Priyanka Chopra.
