The ‘‘Kapoor Haveli’‘ was built by Basheswarnath Kapoor, the father of Bollywood pioneer 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 historic ancestral home of late Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor in Pakistan’s Peshawar city is facing demolition threat as the current owner of the house is adamant on building a commercial complex on the site.
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 recently 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 haveli has turned into a ghost building, residents of the area said. Due to its dilapidated condition, the building can collapse anytime, they said. The state of the building is deteriorating with each passing day due to ecological impact, torrential rains, earthquakes and wind storms. The haveli is currently owned by Haji Muhammad Israr, a wealthy jeweller in the city. The provincial government wanted to buy the haveli keeping in view its historic importance and conserve it in its original shape for the tourists.