Sharmaji Namkeen was released on March 31. It is late actor Rishi Kapoor’s last movie which also starred Juhi Chawla in a key role. During a recent interview with News18.com, the actress talked about working with her ‘Chintu Ji’ and revealed how he was always ‘cheerful and witty’ on the sets of his last movie. The actress, who worked with Rishi Kapoor in several movies in the past too, told News18.com how the late actor would get impatient with his co-stars if they took a lot of time for make-up.
“He was always cheerful, he was witty, brilliant. At times he would get impatient and he couldn’t deal with us all who used to take time over hair and make-up. He used to say, ‘Kya karte rehte ho, same toh lagte ho, dekhna kya hai tum logo ko, acting karo’. He was just himself on the sets, in real life and on the screen. He was just Chintu Ji. Very adorable. Over the years, I have seen him scolding all of us and now I find it very very funny because we knew he is in his element when he did all of this,” Juhi said.
She further mentioned how Sharmaji Namkeen was the first time when she observed Rishi Kapoor’s way of working and realised that he used to do all scenes with such ease. “In this film especially, I watched Chintu Ji as an actor. The way he used to give a shot. I just saw that he was so good. I never observed him in any of my previous films because I was so caught up with my part. But this was the first time I was actually watching him in awe, he used to do it with ease. He used to do only a bit of rehearsal,” she added.
Juhi Chawla also shared an adorable incident of Rishi Kapoor from the sets of Sharmaji Namkeen and revealed what happened when the entire cast gathered for a script reading session.
“Just before we started filming Sharmaji Namkeen, the director said let’s have the whole unit together and everyone will read their part. Chintu Ji, as usual, a little grumpy, the cast had come, and everyone sat at the table. Then Chintu Ji arrives. He comes, sits down, and says ‘I am only here for 30 minutes, I have work, I have to go and I don’t do this script reading. I haven’t done this in my career. I have come because Amit Ji says this is a good exercise.’ The script reading started and he started enjoying it so much. The script reading got over, the cast left, and they have all gone home. I am one of the last people to leave. I was leaving, I stood and was leaving but Chintu Ji is still there with the director. He was very very funny and it was lovely to work with him,” Juhi revealed.
“There are many such incidents in my career, many. I don’t know if I have so many even with Shah Rukh or Aamir because Chintu Ji was such a funny character,” the actress added.
She also shared another incident from her 2009 movie with Rishi Kapoor, Luck By Chance, and said, “We were shooting for Luck By Chance and normally Chintu Ji had a time. Over the years, I saw him, he would come at 10 o’clock, at 2pm he would pack up and go to another shoot. There he would work from 2 to around 9/10 PM. He used to do these two shifts. That was set. You could not expect him to work beyond because he had to go home. When we were working on Luck By Chance, shooting would start in the daytime and it went into the night. We know how it is during the night, everyone starts getting tired, my staff would look at me and I’d be like ‘Wait! Chintu Ji will leave in sometime’ which means we can pack up too. We don’t have to say it, why should we be the villains on the sets saying we want to go home. Don’t know what Chintu Ji was enjoying during the shoot that day. From 8pm it went on to 10pm and then 11pm and then it was 1pm and he was on the sets. My staff was making big eyes and was like, ‘Why are you not saying something?’ I was like, how can I say anything, there’s a senior actor who isn’t giving up and going home. All my life, I had known that Chintu Ji would pack up and go. What happened to him! He was just carrying on and on.”
Juhi also revealed how she was left surprised when she learned that the makers of Sharmaji Namkeen were planning to finish the movie after Rishi Kapoor’s demise. “When Chintu Ji passed away, a few weeks after that, Ritesh (producer) called and he said that it is his last work and we must bring it to the screen. At that time, I was very surprised that he wants to complete this but how, how was this ever going to happen. The other part in me said, whatever you say, it is such a lovely film and his last work, anything at all, I’ll be there,” she told News18.com.
Juhi further revealed how Paresh Rawal was roped in for the film after Rishi Kapoor’s demise. She shared that the makers tried several alternatives including computer graphics before it was decided to have Paresh Rawal on board.
“At that time, they were not clear on how to do it. He had mentioned that maybe we’ll do computer graphics because now things have become so advanced that you can actually use the actor’s face, and expressions and recreate the film. I think they tried a lot of things, a lot of options, worked on it and it was some months later when they called again and said we’ll go ahead and that Paresh Ji will be doing the role. There is a film in Hollywood where one of the lead actors had passed away and the rest was played by another actor and it had been successful. So, sort of taking some little hope and aspiration from there, we went back on the sets and completed the film,” she revealed.
When asked about what makes Sharmaji Namkeen special, an emotional Juhi said, “I wished Chintu Ji would have been there throughout the film. What makes it memorable is that it is his last work. There won’t be another Rishi Kapoor film after this and then that realisation that I was there on the sets when he did his last work, I was there in the scene.”
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