The Gods must be crazy! It really can’t get more tragic for one family than this. You know that Rishi Kapoor, Neetu and Ranbir Kapoor are in New York, where the Sr. Kapoor is undergoing medical treatment for “wear and tear” he picked up in his 45 years of doing entertaining cinema for Bollywood. That’s the story he put out on Saturday on Twitter when leaving for the US of A. But now, unconfirmed reports on a Bollywood site suggest that Rishi is suffering from cancer and is in the same hospital in NYC, the Sloan Kettering Hospital, where our Sonali Bendre has been bravely battling the dreaded disease herself since June.

This terrible news comes at a time when Bollywood is already saddened by the loss yesterday of Krishna Raj Kapoor. And it sort of confirms why Rishi, Neetu and Ranbir did not fly back to Mumbai for Krishnaji’s cremation last evening. The Bollywood site suggests that the senior actor, 66, was called for 45-days’ treatment that includes chemotherapy, and perhaps radiation too. Rishi must have been in no condition or state of mind to make the arduous journey back to Mumbai yesterday. And Neetu and Ranbir, understanding how shattered he was by his mother’s death and already debilitated by his own condition, preferred to stay back in NYC with Rishi rather than leave him alone and return for the cremation themselves.

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Rishi’s being unwell was kind of noticed last week Thursday when the actor returned from Delhi with son Ranbir and was captured by the paparazzo waiting outside the airport. It could be that the father was taking leave of his daughter Riddhima before leaving the country. The robust actor looked pulled down. But nobody could have guessed what poor Rishi was struggling with and bravely trying to hide even as he told fans and well-wishers not to worry and unnecessarily speculate and that he would be back soon. If the Bollywood site that says Rishi has been detected with third stage cancer is right, then it could be that poor Krishnaji was burdened with the thoughts of her son in her last hours. Our prayers will be with the late Kapoor khandaan matriarch tomorrow evening at the condolence meeting being held at Sahara Star, but our thoughts will entirely be with Rishi Kapoor in New York now on.

However, in what appears to be a glimmer of hope, elder brother Randhir Kapoor denied the Bollywood site's story about Rishi being detected with cancer. He said Rishi had not even begun medical tests to find out what was wrong with him and it was incorrect and insensitive to speculate that he was suffering from cancer. Our fingers are crossed...