Poonam Dhillon: Rishi Kapoor and I were hoping to do a film together

Together they worked in multiple films over different eras, be it Biwi-O-Biwi (1981), Amiri Garibi (1990), Yeh Hai Jalwa (2002) or even Namastey London (2007) among others. Apart from being good colleagues, Rishi Kapoor and Poonam Dhillon shared amazing camaraderie. So, when BT reached out to Poonam, who was devastated with the news, said, “It is very painful to talk about my dear friend Rishi Kapoor in ‘past tense’. It has not sunk in yet. I was very much in touch with him. We would actively chat with each other on WhatsApp. I knew that he was a little unwell, so I would just send him get well soon messages. In fact on the New Year’s eve, I sent him a text wishing that this year would be much better for him.”

She further adds, “The last time I met him, was at our common friend’s party earlier this year. He was looking really nice. In fact, I thought he was really over the disease. I even told him that we should do a film together. We looked so good on screen together. And he said ‘zaroor, zaroor koi achchi film aati hai toh zaroor karate hain’. I was really looking forward to working with him again. I was a huge admirer of his work. I have been a fan of his films. He is the most natural actor that Bollywood had. It looked real on screen, never felt that he was acting.”

Talking about one of her recent meets with the actor, Poonam adds, “I also remember meeting him at Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan’s) Diwali bash last year. He had just come from New York. He was upset with me. He complained that unlike many other friends of his, I didn’t go to meet him. And I told him that I wanted to let him be, as he was back home after a year. I didn’t want to invade his space.”

Sharing the fondest memories, Poonam, signs off saying, “I will always remember visiting him during Ganpati and also all the fun we had during film shoots. He was a badmaash. He would give impeccable shots and then when the director would shoot my close-ups he would make me laugh by making funny faces. I would always scold him that ‘khudka shot toh perfect diya and when it is my turn, you are distracting me’.”