When Rishi Kapoor fought with Neetu Kapoor over cake, left business class seat, to eat Vir Das’s share

Comedian and actor Vir Das recently appeared on Sakshi Shivdasani and Naina Bhan’s Moment of Silence podcast, where he fondly remembered his interactions with the late Bollywood legend Rishi Kapoor.

Vir first met Rishi Kapoor while working on a small role in the film Namaste London.

Recalling the encounter, Vir said, “Rishi Kapoor looked at me and asked, ‘Beta, tera naam kya hai?’ I told him, ‘Sir, Vir Das.’

He shook my hand and said, ‘Shake my hand, son.’ When you shake Rishi Kapoor’s hand, you just feel like Tina Munim from Karz. All your masculine energy disappears—you just become his heroine in that moment.”

Vir continued, “He told me, ‘Beta, tu bohot accha actor hai. Shake my hand and promise me you’ll keep acting.’”

Moments later, Rishi walked away, but Vir remembers someone placing a chhatri (umbrella) over his head as a symbolic moment of encouragement.

“That’s what I needed to act, Rishi Kapoor’s handshake,” he said.

Years later, Vir ran into Rishi Kapoor again, this time on a flight. From his seat at the back, Vir overheard a lively exchange in the business class section between Rishi and his wife, Neetu Kapoor.

“There was some back-and-forth happening: ‘You can’t eat the cake.’ ‘I want to eat the cake.’ ‘Doctor said no cake.’ ‘I want the bloody cake!’ Then suddenly Rishi Kapoor stood up and shouted, ‘Arre, Vir!’” Vir recalled, laughing.

Rishi came over and sat next to him, shared stories about actors he started out with, and then casually asked, “You’re going to eat your cake?”

Without waiting for an answer, Rishi ended up eating Vir’s dessert.

“But yeah,” Vir smiled, “you can eat someone else’s cake if you’re Rishi Kapoor.”

Rishi Kapoor passed away on April 30, 2020, at the age of 67, after a two-year battle with leukemia. He had spent nearly a year in New York undergoing treatment before returning to India in 2019. Despite early signs of recovery, his health declined in 2020.