MUMBAI: Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor took a trip down memory lane and recalled how his grandfather and late icon Raj Kapoor used to give him along with sister Riddhima, Karisma and Kareena “caramel toffees.”
The actor was at IFFI 2024, where he was seen discussing his late grandfather. He said: “I've always been asked this question, wherever I've gone since the time I've been in the film industry. I remembered him as a grandfather, as dadaji, who was this big man with blue eyes, where me and my sister, when we went to his house, he used to take us to his room and used to hide these caramel toffees in his fridge.”
He recalled how he would make cousins, Kareena, Karishma, his sister Riddhima and him in a line.
“And he used to ask us to do salaam, and to sing Awara Hoon, and to give him a kiss on his cheek. And then we were bribed with a caramel toffee. So my memories of him are very personal.
Ranbir shared that he got to know him more after he started understanding movies.
“After I started understanding who he was, what his contribution was. Of course, me being the first grandson with the name Kapoor in the family, so I, of course, got a lot of love and attention. When my mom used to fire me or shout at me, I used to call him up. And he used to call up my mom and fire her. So I used that as leverage also.”
Like every grandchild with a grandfather, Ranbir’s relationship with Raj Kapoor was that.
“He passed away when I was six years old. And I still remember I have this vivid memory that, of course, I didn't know what death was and all of those things. But we were in Devanagar Cottage. And all the children were upstairs playing. And we were looking down in the garden. And we could just see a sea of people.”
“I've never seen so many people in my life. And I really understood that day, OK, this man has some standing, has some value. He's done something. That's why so many people have come to pay him respect. So that memory will always stay with me, especially when they took his body. And the entire Chembur Road was filled with people. So these are my early memories of him.”