Neetu’s ‘horrible’ first meeting with Rishi Kapoor

Mumbai, July 9 (IANS) Veteran actors Neetu and Rishi Kapoor might give couple goals to many, but their first meeting years ago was a "horrible" one.

"I had a horrible first meeting with Rishi Kapoor. He had a habit of bullying, so he would comment on my make-up and clothes, and I'd feel so angry. He was actually a brat who would bully everyone and I was very young at that time. I used to be furious with him," Neetu said.

The actress also spoke of how the two, who starred in many hits including "Amar Akbar Anthony", "Khel Khel Mein" and "Kabhi Kabhie", became a hit on-screen couple.

"After 'Bobby' became a superhit, Dimple got married and Rishi was left with no other heroine because everyone used to look older than him. I was the only young actress around and by default, after 'Rickshawala', all his movies started coming to me," she shared.

Neetu shared such nostalgic chunks while chatting with actor Annu Kapoor on his radio show, "Suhaana Safar with Annu Kapoor". When Annu asked about the moment she decided to spend her life with Rishi, she said: "I don't remember the exact moment. But I had signed a lot of movies. I was starting to gain confidence. My mother was very protective of me and used to send my cousin Lovely on my dinner dates with Rishi.

"I was very young, and I had never really been on a date before. This went on for three years, after which I signed 'Naseeb', 'Shaan' and another four or five big-budget movies. Then Rishiji asked, 'You are signing so many movies, don't you want to get married?' He was thinking about it, I had no idea.

"He had never said that he wants to get married. We were just dating. So I said, 'There has to be a boy to get married to. Rishiji said, 'So who am I?'"

When she told her mother about her marriage plans, the latter was happy about it.

"I returned the signing amounts of all the movies I had signed, and then gave notice to everyone asking them to finish all pending movies. I had worked so hard in that one year (to complete all projects before marriage), you can't even imagine.

"And then my husband told me to finish everything, so we could eventually start a family. It wasn't that women couldn't work (after marriage) but I was tired working for 15 years continuously. I wanted a simple life," said the actress, who turned a year older on Monday.