Pakistan expresses inability to convert Kapoor Haveli into museum due to lack of funds

Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor's ancestral home, dubbed as the 'Kapoor Haveli', here cannot be converted into a museum as promised by the Pakistan government due to financial constraints, sources said on Saturday.

In 2018, the Pakistan government decided to convert the 'Kapoor Haveli' in Qissa Khwani Bazar in Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province into a museum, heeding to a request by Rishi Kapoor who died this week at a hospital in Mumbai.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had assured Rishi Kapoor that the Pakistan government will convert the actor's house into a museum.

The sources in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Heritage Department told PTI that the department prepared a comprehensive plan under which the haveli's front would be preserved and its inner portion will be repaired and renovated. However, the plan did not go ahead due to lack of financial resources, they said.

Federal Minister Shaheryar Afridi had promised to give the status of museum to the 'Kapoor Haveli' soon after the present government of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaaf party came into power in July 2018.

However, the announcement to this effect could not be materialised despite a lapse of around two years.

The haveli is presently the property of a private person who made three/four attempts in the past to demolish the building but could not do it as FIRs were registered against him by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa heritage department.

The owner has now assured the government that he would not dismantle the building. However, due to frequent rains, hailstorms and earthquakes, the condition of the building has deteriorated from inside.

The 'Kapoor Haveli' was built by Basheswarnath Kapoor, the father of Bollywood icon Prithviraj Kapoor.

The Kapoor family, originally from Peshawar in Pakistan, migrated to India after the partition in 1947.

In 1990, Rishi Kapoor along with brother Randhir Kapoor visited their ancestral home where his grandfather, Prithviraj and his father Raj Kapoor, were born.

The news of Rishi Kapoor's death sent a wave of sadness and grief among people in Peshawar. A lot of people visited the 'Kapoor Haveli' to express their grief and condolence over his demise.

"We had no relation with Rishi Kapoor, but had a liking for him because of watching him as a film hero from childhood and due to his connection with a place which is also a birth place of me,” said Pervaiz Ahmad, a city dweller.

"Rishi’s death has saddened me a lot”, Pervaiz added.

"Perhaps the feeling expressed by Pervaiz portrays sentiments of all the dwellers of Peshawar over sad demise of Rishi,” said Ibrahim Zia, a historian who wrote a book titled 'Peshawar ki Funkar’ (Artists of Peshawar).