The final hammer on RK Studios to be struck

Somewhere at the start of this year when Rishi Kapoor told us, it broke his heart to reveal that his father’s dream, the RK Studios, was in the process of being sold, we felt his anguish. The studio, which had been built by Hindi cinema’s biggest showman, was with the Kapoor family for nearly seven decades.  While their banner had fallen silent in the last 15 years because they were unable to put up a production, it was still a pride for the three Kapoor brothers to be the owners of this iconic address. “If I am in town, I make it a point to come to RK every afternoon,’’ said Randhir Kapoor, who was the defacto head of the place after his father’s death in 1988. His younger brothers — Rishi and Rajiv — also had their offices here and would come to the studio as often as possible.

However, after the fire broke out in September 2017, it was a certainty that the Kapoors would have to either invest huge funds to make it a state-of-the-art facility in keeping with today’s requirement or they would sell it. Guess with the two most active members of the family, Randhir pushing 71 and Rishi at 66 being physically unable to keep the family flag flying high because of their age and health factors, the decision has been made to sell the business to a realty giant for a rumoured Rs 180 cr-plus.  Sources say the proceeds will be divided between the five siblings, Ritu, Randhir, Rishi, Rima and Rajiv. Sadly, when this sale goes through, it will bring the curtains down on a golden chapter in film history.