Veteran Bollywood actor, Rishi Kapoor has died. He was 67.
The award winning actor died in an
Indian hospital in the early hours of April 30, after a two-year battle with
leukemia.
Kapoor was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 and returned to India last
September following treatment in New York. He was recently admitted to a
hospital in Mumbai for further treatment.
The family in a statement said “The doctors and medical staff at the
hospital said he kept them entertained to the last. He remained jovial and
determined to live to the fullest right through two years of treatment across
two continents. Family, friends, food and films remained his focus and everyone
who met him during this time was amazed at how he did not let his illness get
the better of him.
“He was grateful for the love of his fans that poured in from the
world over. In his passing, they would all understand that he would like to be
remembered with a smile and not with tears,” a statement from his family
read
The statement also urged his fans and well-wishers to respect India’s
current lockdown restrictions, noting: “He would not have it any other
way.”
Kapoor made his debut as a child actor in 1970 in his father Raj Kapoor’s
film “Mera Naam Joker” (“My Name is Joker”). His first lead
role was in the 1973 romantic film “Bobby” which won him the Filmfare
Award, India’s equivalent of the Oscars, for Best Actor. Over the course of his
career, Kapoor acted in more than 100 films, playing both the romantic lead and
character roles.
He is survived by his wife, actress Neetu Singh and two children, including
actor Ranbir Kapoor.