Some love stories are eternal in this temporary life cycle and Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh’s (Kapoor) stand out in a multitude of romances.

They romanced on screen, and then off-screen and set the couple goals for the millions, and continue to do so even now. Their real-life love story is nothing less than a Bollywood fairy tale. They met on the sets of the 1974 movie ‘Zehreela Insaan’. However, like many of you would assume, it was not love at first sight for them. In fact, Rishi Kapoor was trying to woo his then-girlfriend when Neetu entered his life. Little did they both know that the two were destined to be together.

“I remember I had an argument with my girlfriend at the time and I was very heartbroken. Trying to win her back, I had taken Neetu’s help in writing telegrams to my girlfriend while the two of us were shooting for ‘Zehreela Insaan’. As time passed, I began to realise that Neetu is the one for me as I began to miss her when I had gone to Europe for a shoot. Ironically, I sent her a telegram from Europe to Kashmir saying that I was thinking of her,” Rishi Kapoor, who died on April 30, 2020, after a long battle with cancer, had said in an interview.

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For Neetu Kapoor, however, Rishi Kapoor was not an obvious choice.

“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 told IANS. 

But when two people are meant to be together, they will be together. It’s destiny.

In January 1980, the couple tied the knot, following which Neetu quit acting. They had their first child, Ridhima, in September that year (which year) and in 1982, Neetu gave birth to son Ranbir, who is now making it big in Bollywood.

From friends to a couple, to the man and the wife, the two loved each other through thick and thin, and beyond.

Neetu Kapoor, in the words of her husband, was the family’s pillar of strength.

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However, their marriage was not completely without hurdles. There was a time when the relationship of the couple hit a rough patch. Talking about that period, Rishi Kapoor had once said, “It has always been Neetu who has made all the efforts, I have always been a difficult man. Every relationship goes through such turmoil but eventually comes out of it, our relationship was no different. I was being very difficult then, but Neetu absorbed all the shocks I gave her really well. And held onto me.”

The couple always had each other’s back and remained by each other’s side through thick and thin.

Rishi was diagnosed with cancer in 2018 following which the couple moved base to New York. Rishi died in Mumbai on April 30 after battling cancer for two years.

Neetu Kapoor often remembers Rishi in her posts on Instagram.

“End of our story,” she had written in her goodbye note to her late husband.