Sharmaji Namkeen director reveals he thought of roping in Ranbir Kapoor to finish the film

Rishi Kapoor’s final film, Sharmaji Namkeen is finally getting ready for a release. Hitesh Bhatia, the film’s director has now revealed that he wanted to rope in the late actor’s son, Ranbir Kapoor to finish his fathers part to finish the film. 

Talking in an interview with PTI, the debutant director said that after the passing of the actor, he thought the film would not be finished, until the producers assured him they would release it, over a Zoom call.

Talking about one of the earliest ideas to finish the film, he said, “"It was a journey of Ranbir coming in with prosthetics or VFX, or having another actor (to play the part). It took me a lot of time to come on board with the idea that it is a feasible option that we can do.”

The film was eventually completed by casting actor Paresh Rawal, who became the titular character Rishi Kappor was playing. 

Rishi Kapoor passed away in April 2020 at the age of 67, after fighting leukaemia for two years.

The director adds that they had the big responsibility of presenting the actor’s final film, and so had to do a good job to present the movie for the late actor’s family and countless fans. 

The film, backed by Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Honey Trehan and Abhishek Choubey under the banners of Excel Entertainment in association with MacGuffin Pictures. The movie is set to release on Amazon Prime Video on March 31. 

Directed and co-written by Hitesh Bhatia, the drama follows a middle class retiree who finds a new passion in cooking.