Rishi Kapoor and Chuni Goswami: Two star players on two playing fields

Rishi Kapoor may well have invented the word ‘enjoy’. But both off and on screen, whether as the ever-ebullient Monty in the 1980 Subhash Ghai-directed blockbuster Karz, or much later as the lonely widower father in Chandni Chowk in Leena Yadav’s 2018 Rajma Chawal, or even as the Twitterhappy real-life Chintuji, Kapoor brought a certain infectious aspect to life via his acting.

On his part, Subimal ‘Chuni’ Goswami, as is wont with sporting legends, came from a different generation. Dapper that he was, Goswami was a player both on and off the football field. As captain of the Asian Games gold-winning team in 1962, and a regular in the Olympics, he managed to transcend his fan following among the tribes of Bengali football fans — with its ultras in Mohun Bagan, where the legend played from 1954 to 1968 — and was a true-blue national hero.

Separated by 14 years, Kapoor and Goswami embodied a playfulness we shall remember both as leela and ‘enjoy’. Our playing fields — which include the stage where Kapoor erupted trumpet in hand in Nasir Hussain’s1977 Hum Kisise Kum Naheen, as well as the Maidan Grounds in 1960s Kolkata and Ikada Stadium in 1962 Jakarta, Indonesia, where Goswami plied his magical trade — are left behind better nurtured and nourished by their indomitable play-fulness.