Ranbir Kapoor Bday Special: When he forced his father Rishi Kapoor into airplane after cancer diagnosis

Happy Birthday Ranbir Kapoor. Ranbir Kapoor turns 39 today.

Ranbir Kapoor celebrates his 39th birthday on Tuesday. He is the son of late actor Rishi Kapoor and actress Neetu Kapoor, yet he has carved out a niche for himself in Bollywood.

Ranbir has appeared in films such as Barfi, Sanju, Rockstar, and many others since his debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya in 2007. Not only has his career made headlines, but so has his personal life, from the women he has dated to the equation he shared with his father.

Rishi and Ranbir had a tense relationship for a long time. Rishi once admitted in an interview that he had messed up his relationship with Ranbir. Rishi revealed in a 2015 interview with Mumbai Mirror how negatively he and Neetu reacted to Ranbir's choice to leave the family home and live with his then-girlfriend Katrina Kaif.

“When I moved out after marriage, my father gave me space, and I gave Ranbir space when he wanted to move out and share a house with his partner. He just had one room in this house: how could it be enough for a 33-year-old boy? He's a wonderful son who listens to me, but I don't intervene in his professional life since mine is mine and his is his. Even though my wife continued telling me what I was doing, I knew I had messed up my connection with Ranbir. Things's too late to fix it; neither of us will be able to adjust to the new situation. It's like if there's a glass wall between us; we can see each other and chat, but that's it. He no longer lives with us, which is a major setback for us.We're constructing a new home with enough place for him and his family. Life carries on till then.”

However, as time went, things between them improved. Ranbir wasted no time in bringing Rishi to New York for the best treatment when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. “There was no time to react,” Rishi told a prominent newspaper. In Delhi, I was filming. When my son (Ranbir Kapoor) and a close family member came to Delhi, talked with my producers, and discussed the situation, I was on the sixth day of shooting a new film. They flew me to Mumbai in the evening and then to New York the next day. I didn't have time to respond or reflect.I didn't have time to respond or reflect. My son literally forced me into the airplane and flew with me here. Acceptance comes in stages.”

Rishi died in April 2020, just two years after being diagnosed with cancer. “It has been quite a dramatic year in my life, starting with the loss of a parent, which I don't believe has seeped in yet,” Ranbir told journalist Rajeev Masand in December. In some ways, I'm still dealing with it.”