Rani Mukerji recalls her time on the set of ‘Hum Tum’ with Rishi Kapoor

With the Indian blockbuster Hum Tum reaching its 16-year mark in 2020, Rani Mukerji sat down to reminisce upon her experience working on the set alongside deceased Bollywood icon Rishi Kapoor.

During her trip down memory lane, Rani recalled the time Rishi Kapoor played the role of Saif Ali Khan’s father. She was quoted saying, "Hum Tum will always be memorable for me because it was the film that Chintu uncle was part of, and I fondly remember our shoot in Amsterdam. Recently, when I met him before his untimely demise, we were chatting about the 'Hum Tum' shoot and we were recalling the days of how much fun we had during the Amsterdam schedule.”

"I remember very clearly that, for Chintu uncle, it was one of the first films in which he had started playing key character roles. He took a leap of faith and he agreed to play Saif's dad because till then he was always the leading star. Somehow he did this and he was just brilliant as usual and made our film truly special!”

Narrating her own experience in Hum Tum, she said: "Chintu uncle belonged to the era when actors never did sync sound and 'Hum Tum' was a sync-sound film. We were shooting in a house in Amsterdam that had wooden flooring and Dilip Subramaniam was the sound recordist."

"He kept telling Chintu uncle that each time he would take a step in the house, the floor would creak and create sound. Chintu uncle invariably moved and Dilip would say 'cut, we will need one more!' But Rishi Kapoor was not used to more takes.”

"Chintu uncle was just not used to one more take and we used to all crack up because he used to fire him. He used to say what the hell is this, why is the take not getting okayed and why is the floor creaking. He was hilarious. It was quite a first for him because he had to actually understand what this sync sound is all about, because they used to dub for their films back in the day, and these things never mattered.”

Reflecting on Rishi Kapoor's recent demise, the actor admitted that it is a difficult burden to bear, "It was a first and we used to have lots of chats and laughs about this. I have always been a huge fan of Chintu uncle, and his demise has been a double loss for me, as somebody whom I knew very well and also as a fan.”