Chintu didn’t have any airs, recall friends from ‘Mera Naam Joker’ set

Kolkata: An endearing boy who wanted to hum songs and play ‘pittu’ on the grounds of Darjeeling’s St Paul’s School is a memory haunting 67-year-old PK Banerjee ever since the news of Rishi Kapoor’s demise broke on Thursday. Raj Kapoor had asked the tall and lanky Banerjee to stand right behind Rishi in the famous exercise scene with Simi Garewal while shooting ‘Mera Naam Joker’.
“Despite coming from such an illustrious family, Chintu (as we called him) was humble and friendly.We would get along very well. In between shooting, we would all play games like cricket and ‘pittu’,” said Banerjee, who was then a student of Class VIII. In the scene, Garewal was asking everyone to do an exercise. “But Chintu didn’t. When Garewal asked him the reason, he put his hand behind his back and said his shorts were torn. Hearing this, I was supposed to laugh out loud. During shooting, I found that Chintu used to wear blue contact lenses.”
PK Banerjee (behind) with Rishi Kapoor in 'Mera Naam Joker'
Other Paulites are equally nostalgic about this performance that got Rishi the National Award for Best Child Artist in 1971. Sixty seven-year-old Suvankar Banerji, who was in Class IX then, has memories of playing hockey with Rishi. Another alumni, Suva Prosad Mukherjee, who was in Class VII, was happy watching the shooting. “I remember him as a chubby boy with rosy cheeks. The shooting had taken a long time. Every time there was fog, we all went inside for cover. Shooting resumed only when the sun came out. Once the entire shooting was over, Raj Kapoor sent us food and even ‘laddoos’. I was in touch with Chintu even a year after shooting was over,” Mukherjee said. None of them, however, attended the Kolkata premieres of Rishi’s movies.
Rishi Kapoor had tweeted this photo on December 18,2015, saying: "Darjeeling - 1967. Being directed by Raj Kapoor. Mera Naam Joker."
In March 2017, Rishi Kapoor had posted a photo of meeting Satyajit Ray, saying: “With the great Satyajit Ray. Thank you whosoever sent this to me— it’s a joy to possess. Think this is ‘Bobby’ premiere Kolkatta 1973.” According to Sandip Ray, Raj Kapoor used to invite his father whenever his film released in Kolkata. Remembering this premiere, he said, “We met Rishi at the premiere in Metro. Before that, Raj Kapoor had got Baba to watch Rishi’s episode from ‘Mera Naam Joker’. He had shown Baba a ‘work print’ of that episode in Mumbai. Baba had liked it a lot. That’s where he first saw Simi and perhaps got the idea of casting her for ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’.”
Rishi Kapoor had tweeted this photo on March 17, 2017, saying: "With the great Satyajit Ray. Thank you whosoever sent this to me-it's a joy to possess. Think this is Bobby premier Kolkotta 1973"
Much later on, both Rishi and Randhir Kapoor had briefly met Sandip when he had shot ‘Bombaiyer Bombete’ outside RK Studios. “Rishi was extremely warm and happy that we were shooting there. News of his death, just a day after Irrfan’s demise, has come as a big shock for me.”