By a happy coincidence, Rajiv Kapoor who passed away this week, completed a film after a long time.
“Yes, it is really fortunate that we have a posthumous release of Rajiv to look forward to,” says Ashutosh Gowariker, who is the co-producer of Rajiv Kapoor’s final film Toolsidas Junior where he plays one of the leads.”
Ashutosh will never forget Rajiv’s reaction when he was offered the role. “Rajiv was like, why me after so many years? He hadn’t faced the camera for 30 years. But I’ve always liked his work in films like Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Ek Jaan Hain Hum. I saw him in the role of the little hero’s father.”
Once Rajiv was on board, he was fully committed to the film.
Says Ashutosh, “He promised to stay stay off alcohol throughout the shooting and he did. He lost some weight too. The best part is, Rajiv was able to see Toolsidas Junior after it was completed. We finished all the shooting before Covid19 and he saw it just before the lockdown. He was so excited! He wanted to show it to his entirely family. We had planned to show it all the Kapoors for Christmas 2020. That’s when the family gets together every year. But Covid was still rampant, so we postponed it for later. Sadly, later never came. Rajiv left us.”
Rajiv plays the father of a 11-year old boy in Toolsidas Junior. “His father is defeated in snooker. The boy played by Varun Buddhadev sets out to take revenge on the man who beat his father at the game.”
Directed by Mridul, a former assistant, Ashutosh wants to give Rajiv’s last film a proper release. “I believe this is Rajiv’s finest performance and I want as many as possible to see it. We’re waiting for the audience to return to theatres before releasing it. I want Toolsidas Junior to be a glorious final hurrah for Rajiv.”
Image source: SpotboyeEarchives