Rajiv Kapoor: The Bollywood actor who could never find fame like his father Raj and brother Rishi

Rajiv Kapoor is the latest member of the Kapoor family to have died in less than a year. The actor-filmmaker died on February 9, aged 58, after suffering a cardiac arrest in Mumbai.

Known by his nickname Chimpu in Bollywood, Rajiv was a member of the first family of Bollywood, with legendary filmmaker Raj Kapoor as his father, while Shashi Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor were his uncles.

Following in the footsteps of his family, Rajiv made his debut in Bollywood with the 1983 film, ‘Ek Jaan Hain Hum’. But it was the 1985 blockbuster, ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ (pictured), which was directed by his father, which shot him into the spotlight.

His other notable movies include ‘Lava’, ‘Zalzala’ and ‘Zabardast’. However, he could never step out of his brother Rishi’s shadow, who was a celebrated actor at the time. Rajiv soon moved away from acting and decided to take up direction instead under the family’s RK Films banner.

In an interview with Cinestaan in 2016, Rajiv stated that his career never quite took off in Bollywood, despite many attempts on his part. “As far as my career is concerned, ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’ is the best film I did. The other films didn’t do well, but not all were bad. The sad part was that everybody wanted to project me like Shammi Kapoor, because I looked like him. To summarise in simple language – hit is fit. If your movies did well things would be on a different tangent. I did some nice films which had good music, but not many did well.”

His last film was ‘Zimmedaar’ in 1990. After its failure, he moved to filmmaking and in 1997, he directed his much famous brother Rishi Kapoor, along with Madhuri Dixit, in ‘Prem Granth’ (pictured). The film was a commercial flop.

His famous family members led tributes for his untimely death, with Rishi Kapoor’s wife and actress Neetu Kapoor posting a picture of her brother-in-law on Instagram with the message: “RIP”, who also visited his home to pay her condolences.

Rajiv was an uncle to Bollywood stars Ranbir Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan. Ranbir was also spotted at the condolence with his mother Neetu Kapoor.

Kapoor Khan, who is currently nine months pregnant, posted a black and white image of her famous family members, which depicts from left, father Randhir Kapoor, who is the eldest brother, along with the late Raj Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor and the late Rishi Kapoor.

Karisma Kapoor retweeted her sister’s post and paid tribute to her uncle on her Instagram stories as well.

She was also spotted with her family to pay her condolences on the death of her uncle.

Also present in a growing crowd of mourners was actress Tara Sutaria, who is dating Aadar Jain. Jain is the son of Reema Kapoor, Rajiv's sister.

It has been less than a year since the death of Rishi Kapoor, who died on April 30, 2020 after a two-year battle with cancer.

Rajiv’s sister, Ritu Nanda, also died in January 2020.