Fate is cruel but ironic as well. Did you know that Rajiv Kapoor passed away on the same date (February 9, 2021) as Neil Nitin Mukesh‘s fourth wedding anniversary- and four years ago, was an integral part of Neil’s wedding celebrations in Udaipur?

We spoke to Neil about this an hour ago. Revealed Neil, “We were seeing Chimpoo uncle in our wedding video just a day before (on Feb 8) he passed away. We decided to play the video and go down memory lane. Naturally, we spoke about him a lot while seeing it. He was dancing in bliss. I still can’t come to terms with the fact that he is no more and we shall not see him again.”

Neil added that he and his father, senior singer Nitin Mukesh have been very close to all the three brothers- Randhir, Rishi and Rajiv. We understand that considering that Neil’s grandfather, the legendary Mukesh was the voice of Raj Kapoor. “First Chintu uncle, now Chimpoo uncle. Daddy has been feeling a bit low these days.” he further revealed.

Neil said that he often spoke to Rajiv on the phone “In fact, we spoke just a week before that ill-fated day. Chimpoo uncle said he will be coming home soon and catching up. We were looking forward to having him in our midst. He was always with us in all our occasions. I remember him calling me up during the Ganpati festival and talking about the fact that we couldn’t meet this time; our celebration this time, that is in 2020, was low key due to COVID.”

Neil Nitin Mukesh at Rajiv Kapoor’s funeral

_{Photo: Yogen Shah}

Looking at the unpredictability of life, Neil concludes, “Chimpoo uncle was really looking forward to his comeback film ‘Toolsidas Junior’and doing more movies after that. Nobody knows what lies in store. ”