'Of course, Vyjayantimala had a relationship with my dad…'
| Rishi Kapoor is livid that the yesteryear actress called her link-up with Raj Kapoor a publicity gimmick in her autobiography
| | | | | Stirring Up A Hornet's Nest: Rishi Kapoor | In her autobiography titled Bonding... A Memoir, yesteryear actress Vyjayantimala Bali has denied her much-publicised relationship with the late filmmaker Raj Kapoor.
She has not only denied a relationship with him, but has also implied that it was a publicity gimmick fuelled by the PR machinery of the R K Films banner.
After Sunday Mid Day carried excerpts from her book (see box), the legendary filmmaker's son Rishi Kapoor is furious with her comments.
Utter nonsense
| | | Beautiful Liar: Vyjayantimala Bali | An irritated Rishi says, "I respect her as a lady and a senior actress, but she is talking rubbish.
Ideally, I would not have commented on this but my father is no more and I am only speaking to defend his reputation.
I will not lie and say that my father didn't have a relationship with her.
Of course, my dad had a relationship with Vyjayantimala. How can she deny it?"
He adds that the family has suffered greatly on her account. "I remember I was 11 years old when the relationship started, and my mother and the rest of us left our house and lived in Natraj Hotel for four-and-a-half months.
She caused torment to my family, so the least she can do now is own up. Instead, she's lying and trying to malign my father's name by saying it was a publicity stunt driven by him."
It's absurd
Unable to come to terms with the actress's turnaround, Rishi laughs, "Can you believe it? It's absurd. My father never needed that kind of publicity.
The whole world knows that Vyjayanti was involved with him. Why is she denying it? This is the case of 'nau sau chuhe kha ke billi haj ko chali'."
The actor, who spoke to his siblings after reading excerpts in Sunday Mid Day, asks angrily, "Why just my father, she finally got married to Dr Bali, who was a married man.
His son Ratan Bali (from his first wife) is now with Air India and is possibly a year or two younger than me. I'm sure he suffered too when his father walked out on the family to marry the actress."
Kapoor is in no mood to forgive such a distortion of facts. "It's very nice to write your memoirs, but you should have the guts to be honest. You cannot deny facts.
Why did Vyjayantimala write an autobiography if it was going to be fiction? I would never have reacted to her book if she hadn't stirred up a hornet's nest by distorting facts," he concludes.
| 'RK was far too enamoured of getting publicity'
| | | | Fanning The Flame: Raj Kapoor and Vyjayantimala in Sangam | |
Coming to the unfortunate salacious gossip that was generated during and after the release of Sangam, the fact of the matter was that RK was far too enamoured of getting publicity and grabbing the headlines. And that included the rumours that I was romantically involved with him.
It was all the manipulative doing of RK banner's PR drive and unnecessarily this nonsense spread like wild fire even before one could think of dousing those flames. Nobody from the media bothered to seek my point of view. This was absolutely baseless and made me very angry.
It hurt his family and my family in equal measure. Like others, even his family thought it to be true. And Yagamma and father were naturally very upset. But as far as my clean image and reputation was concerned, it remained untouched.
I had observed during those four years of the making of Sangam that RK was not obsessed about women like he had been made out to be. Of course, he had this creative compulsion to depict passionate scenes.
But this bit about catering to this image to show that he was always involved with the leading lady of his film (not outside, but only in his films) was definitely generated by RK Studio's publicity wing.
Exactly the way he came across as the Indian version of Charlie Chaplin in his acting, so he wanted to be like Chaplin in his own life too, trying to project wife on one side and mistress on the other. So, a rumour here and there made for juicy stories, which boosted both his image and the prospect of his films.
Obviously, this bit about RK being a womanizer and having affairs was all part of professional tactics, purely a stunt and propaganda.
He excelled in the art of publicity through word of mouth. At every step, he would call people to see the rushes, so that everybody only talked of Sangam. Maybe he did flirt a bit, but that was part of his personality. As far as I was concerned, it was more than exaggerated.
I know the truth and it is my conscience that makes me speak the truth. Of course, it affected me because I was very reserved and reclusive in my own way. I was under the watchful eyes of Yagamma all the time.
She censored everything. In fact, in one scene shot in the snow where the sledge slips and we roll down, she was very upset and questioned RK, "What is this?" And he said, "No, no, ammaji…" He was very convincing, touching her feet, and all that.
When I signed up with him, I knew about his glad eye and could make out that he was acting. I would still not say that everything about him was pretence, but yes everything revolved around him. He was very self-centered. He would go out of the way to hype it to the hilt, which was good for the film, but not good for me. | | |
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