India's Craziest Record Breaker
By Haziq Qadri @haziq_qadri
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Videographer / director: Shams Qari
Producer: Haziq Qadri, Ellie Winstanley
Editor: Jack Stevens
Based in Delhi, India, Har Prakash Rishi now calls himself 'Ripley’s Guinness Rishi’ in homage to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! and the Guinness World Records.
Rishi’s bizarre feats include downing a 490g bottle of ketchup in 39 seconds and delivering a pizza from New Delhi to San Francisco - which took him 27 hours.
He also removed all his teeth so that he could create a world record by putting 65 burning candles in his mouth.
In 2011, he also managed to squeeze an incredible 496 straws in his mouth.
“For these two records, I had to remove all my teeth so that I could put in the maximum number of straws and candles in my mouth,” he said.
Rishi entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the first time in 1990 when he and his two friends rode a scooter for 1,001 hours.
He said: “When I along with my two friends completed our first world record, my name was Har Prakash Rishi, but when we created a new world record people started calling me ‘Mr Guinness' - and the name stuck.”
Rishi, an auto-parts manufacturer by profession, claims he now holds over 20 world records.
With 499 flags tattooed on his body, he is moving on to portraits of global leaders on his body as a mark of respect, including Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II.
He said: “I have a tattoo of an Indian Prime Minister, a US President, the Queen and Mahatma Gandhi.
"I wrote a letter to US president as well asking him to invite me to the US. I am sure he will respond to my letter. I need to discuss a ‘formula’ on ‘how to eliminate terrorism from the globe’ with him.”
Rishi has faced a lot of criticism from his family and friends and says people make fun of him by calling him a ‘joker’ and a ‘mad old man’.
He said: “When people see so many tattoos on my body, they generally don’t appreciate them. They think I am a mad guy.”
And he is worried that he has alienated his family by having tattoos on his face and head.
He added: “They mind it, especially when they see tattoos on my face. They say I should not put more tattoos on my face. They do not take me to any parties or functions. My wife doesn’t talk to me.
“They say they feel embarrassed when I walk with them. They were okay with the body tattoos and not with the tattoos on my face. They say people talk bad about me.”
By continuing to get tattooed and pursuing more records, Rishi hopes people will remember his name even after his death.
He said: “I am an old man. I will die soon but I want people to remember my name for decades.
"By creating one record, people won’t remember my name for long.
"I create more records just to make sure that people remember my name. I will be on the top by holding so many records in my name.”
Rishi would also like to have another child, despite his years.
“I feel young and sexually active and I wish to have more kids even at this age,” he said.
“My wife is 80 and I am 74. I request her to have a child at this age. But my wife refused to have a child at this age. She said people would laugh at us.”
To the despair of his family, Rishi has no plans to abandon his record-breaking attempts any time soon.
The plucky pensioner is still waiting on a certificate for his ‘longest will in the world’ - which stretches to 9,500 pages - and also has plans to donate his body to Ripleys!
He said: "I want to donate my body to the Ripley Believe it or not. During last 10 years I requested them to accept my body after my death and put it in a transparent glass coffin."