'Girls From Russia Are Small & Wear Short Skirts': When Rishi Kapoor Invited Rahul Rawail On Mera Naam Joker Sets

Bollywood director-editor Rahul Rawail, who shared a very close bond with legendary actor Rishi Kapoor, recently recalled how the late actor invited him to the sets of Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker by enticing him with 'Russian girls'.

Rawail shared that while he was planning to jet off to Canada for higher studies in nuclear physics, he got a call from Rishi Kapoor, who informed him that Raj Kapoor was starting the shoot of Mera Naam Joker's next part.

"Rishi called me and said, 'The girls with the Russian circus are very pretty. They are small and young and wear short skirts.' I found the idea very exciting. So I went there with him," Rawail recalled.

Rawail shared that he was awestruck by the way Raj Kapoor worked and was just 15 when he turned assistant director for him. He reminisced how Raj Kapoor took charge of the entire set, which comprised of 5000 people, including Indian and Russian circus artistes.

"I kept looking at him for the entire day. By the time I noticed, the girls had left," he shared.

Shedding further light on his friendship with Rishi Kapoor, Rawail said that they had been together since kindergarten and spoke to each other every single day no matter what.

A renowned director and editor, Rawail has some popular films to his credit, including Love Story (1981), Arjun (1985), Anjaam (1994), among others. He was the one who launched Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh in the 1983 film, Betaab, and Aishwarya Rai in the 1997 film, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya.

In 2023, Rawail was appointed as the Jury at the Moscow International Film Festival 2023.