Bhagyashree urged me to play Rauf Lala: Rishi

Jan 30, 2012 Subhash K Jha

Mumbai, Jan 30 (IANS) Rishi Kapoor's villainous turn in "Agneepath" is getting him unprecedented encomium, but he was not convinced about playing the role and says that other than his wife, actress Bhagyashree urged him to take the offer.

"Besides my wife there was only one actress who urged me to play Rauf Lala. And that was Bhagyashree. I want to thank her for advising me to do this role. In my entire career I've never received such a positive response, and that too for a negative role. Both the Karans (producer Karan Johar and director Karan Malhotra) are like my sons. I am glad I finally trusted them," said Rishi.

Before before the release of the film, Rishi had a spat with director Karan Malhotra for editing out his scenes and also doing the last minute re-dubbing. The actor sheepishly admits he was wrong to lose his cool considering how much praise he has come in for.

"I never expected this kind of a response. To begin with I didn't want to play the despicable character Rauf Lala. I kept asking, 'Why me?' Hats off to the two Karans for imagining me in such a evil character's skin when all my career I've played sweet romantic lover-boy roles," said Rishi.

"Yeah, I did play a villain in (Vashu Bhagnani's) 'Kal Kissne Dekha'. But that wasn't well accepted by the audience. I was completely unsure of 'Agneepath'. I wonder what made them think of me," he added.

Rishi's scenes were cut on the editing table and so disillusioned was the actor with the final length of his role that he demanded to be billed for a 'special appearance' in the film. The director, however, insisted he would give Rishi top billing, ahead of Sanjay Dutt and Hrithik Roshan, instead.

"When I went for dubbing, I saw some of my best scenes were missing. When I asked Karan Malhotra about them, he said they were edited. I got upset. Karan kept assuring me that my part has emerged pivotal to the plot. But I was unconvinced," said Rishi.

"Poor Karan. I know him from the time he was a child. I've done four films including the super hit musical 'Khel Khel Mein' with my wife Neetu, with Karan Malhotra's father Ravi Malhotra. I've seen him running around in shorts on his father's sets. He kept ensuring me about my role. But I was unconvinced," he added.

To compound his woes, Rishi had to re-dub some of the objectionable dialogues given to his flesh trader's character regarding women.

"One major sequence where my character talks of women and goats in the same breath was censored, and rightly so. The censor board also objected to some of my dialogues where my character talks explicitly about women's anatomy. I had to re-dub those scenes at the last minute. We had to find suitably alternate dialogues for the ones that were censored. So the pre-release time was tough for me," said the 59-year-old

Rishi expects a flood of bad-man roles after "Agneepath".

"But no thanks. I am not cut out to be a villain….unless it's something really special. Who knows about tomorrow?" Click the Movie button below for more info:
Agneepath