From 'buying' an award to being a 'chauvinist', Rishi Kapoor bares it all in 'Khullam Khulla'

Bollywood veteran actor Rishi Kapoor is perhaps one of the few in the industry who is not afraid to speak his mind. And his recently released autobiography "Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored" is proof of just that.

In the book, the star gives a candid peek into his life - his career, his relationships, being a "chauvinist", buying an award and much more.

A report in The Times of India, which breaks down the several "confessions" made by Rishi in the book, states that the actor, among other things, talks about the women his father Raj Kapoor was involved with while being married to his mother Krishna Raj Kapoor.

The "Bobby" star states that he was very young when his father had an affair with actor Nargis Dutt and so it didn't affect him much. But things were very different when he started seeing actor Vyjayanthimala.

Krishna took Rishi along with her and moved into the Natraj Hotel on Marine drive.

"My mother had decided to put her foot down this time. From the hotel, we shifted for two months into an apartment in Chitrakoot. My father had bought the apartment for Mom and us. He did all he could to woo her back, but my mother wouldn't give in until he had ended that chapter of his life," he writes.

Vyjayanthimala had however denied being in a relationship with Raj Kapoor and has even said that the latter had "manufactured the romance because of his hunger for publicity.”

Rishi Kapoor/Twitter

While how Rishi and Neetu Singh met, fell in love and have been married for 37 years now is a well-known story, the former's first love was in fact a Parsi girl called Yasmin Mehta, according to the TOI report.

It was  reports of a romance between him and "Bobby" co-star Dimple Kapadia that ended his relationship with Yasmin.

"By the time Bobby was released in 1973, Stardust, which was the most popular magazine of its time, published a story about a budding romance between Dimple and me. Dimple, who by this time was already married to Rajesh Khanna, was not greatly affected by it. But it put an end to my relationship with Yasmin, I tried hard to get her back in my life, but she did not agree," he says.

Rishi Kapoor with Neetu and Gulzar (left); Twitter

Neetu left the film industry soon after the couple got married. Rishi says that though he didn't force her to leave her work, it was the chauvinist in him "that didn't want his wife to go out to work.”

"But to be honest," he writes, "I didn't try to convince her to keep working either. There was a chauvinist in me that didn't want his wife to go out to work. I wanted Neetu to finish all her commitments before we got married. All I can say in my defence is that my views have changed since then."

The TOI report further states that Rishi Kapoor's relationship with co-star Amitabh Bachchan, then the ruling "angry man" of Bollywood, was also not exactly the most amicable one.

Rishi reveals, he even "bought" the best actor award for "Bobby" for himself leaving Amitabh "sulked" because he thought he rightfully deserved the award for "Zanjeer".

"I am ashamed to say it, but I actually 'bought' that award. I was so naive. There was this PRO, Taraknath Gandhi, who said to me, 'Sir, tees hazaar de do, toh aap ko main award dila doonga.' I am not the manipulative sort but I admit that I gave him the money without thinking," he writes.