Prevent loss of man hours; give India two time zones, urges Rishi Kapoor

Mumbai: Veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor today advocated creating two different time zones for the country at a literary meet in the 'City of Joy'.

The heartthrob of the 70s-80s Hindi cinema, who was here to attend Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet, was visibly displeased as dusk descended during a conversation on his autobiography 'Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored' at the magnificent Victoria Memorial compound.

"You have darkness descending even at 5:30 PM while sun light is very much there in Mumbai around this time. In the northeast dusk settles even before here in Kolkata. So much loss of man hours," he said.

"In our country there must be two time zones to save working hours. Why we don't have it; I have been talking about this issue for a long time," the actor said.

Recalling that he had heard Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had discounted such a proposal decades back on the ground that our populace was not so educated to be nuanced with the differences of latitude and longitude and get confused, Rishi said, "Now since we are already in 2017 and moving into 2018, it is high time such a proposal is implemented.”

Rishi, who also dwelt on his family's tryst with the city since 1927, complimented Kolkata for its pretty and clean look and said it was far better than Mumbai in that respect.

"In five years time I see beautification of Kolkata. It is really pretty and clean. You guys are notches ahead of Mumbai right now," he said.

The 64-year-old actor said that of the 100 year old history of Indian cinema, the four generation of Kapoors have the contribution of 89-90 years to a thunderous applause from the audience.

He later signed autographs of his new title.