How Kapoors came together to finish Raj Kapoor’s last film, an India-Pak love story

Raj Kapoor was in the middle of making his film Henna when he tragically passed away in 1988. After his death, Randhir Kapoor took over the directorial duties as the world around him was waiting with bated breath to watch how RK Films would prosper after the death of its showman. The film was an India-Pakistan love story starring Rishi Kapoor and Zeba Bakhtiyar, and a pivotal role in the film was played by the Marathi actor Ashwini Bhave. In a recent interview, Ashwini recalled how Neetu Kapoor, Rishi’s wife, would accompany her to the dress designers, and how the RK family supported her in her biggest film until then.

‘Henna changed my life’

In a chat with Filmfare, Ashwini recalled, “Henna changed my life as well as people’s perception towards me. The way I saw myself, I could never have imagined that I could be presented in such a glamorous way. But the thing is, I would proudly say that the content of Marathi theatre and films is so strong and the criteria for appreciation… the bar is so high that we are well trained. So there is never a question of whether our acting will be at par. The glamour part was something I was not used to. I had that mental block in my mind”

Ashwini recalled how RK Films supported her ably through this transition. “But the kind of love that you get, and the kind of facilities that were given to me, I could have never, in my dreams, thought that I could have performed on a song like ‘Aaja Ve Mahi’,” she shared. The dance song had Ashwini performing in front of a crowd, and it was an instant hit.

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“Not just they gave me that song, they also facilitated my efforts. That is very important. Like in Marathi films, we would get our own clothes for the shoot so many times because the budgets were so small,” she recalled and shared how Bollywood was a different world altogether.

‘Neetu Kapoor would personally take me to dress trials’

“Here was Neetu Kapoor personally putting me in her car and taking me to the designer for the trial three times, and she has so much love for me. Randhir said, ‘We have this Satyam hall open for you, do as much rehearsal as you want’. I was shooting and after that I would go to Satyam for my rehearsals and believe me with a crowd of 1000-1500 on set, we shot that song for almost 14-15 days,” she recalled.

She shared that after the song was shot, she could not appreciate herself for her performance, but Rishi was a pillar of support during this time. “After the song, Rishi asked me, ‘What do you think of the song?’ I said, ‘I am so bad’. This is what I told him. He said ‘Pagal hai (Are you mad)? You don’t know what you have done’,” she said.

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Ashwini described the whole experience as “surreal” and said that for many years after this, she did many world tours, and performed across almost all the continents on the song ‘Aaja Ve Mahi’. “Even when Madhuri Dixit had her own shows, I would open it with ‘Aaja Ve Mahi’ and I have received love from all the continents. That changed my own perception of myself. It was a huge change for me. They eased me into it,” she said.

After Henna, Ashwini was seen in Hindi films like Parampara, Sainik, Bandhan, among a few others.