{"id":3931,"date":"2017-12-05T19:25:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T13:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=3931"},"modified":"2019-12-04T23:01:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T17:31:45","slug":"shashi-kapoor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/shashi-kapoor\/","title":{"rendered":"Traversing the Two Worlds of Mainstream and Art: Shashi Kapoor’s Unexampled Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cIs duniya mein aadmi insaan ban jaye … toh bahut badi baat hai\u201d – Shashi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan in Kabhi Kabhie (Pic: News18)<\/p><\/div>\n

What is the first image that comes up in mind when you say the name Shashi Kapoor? When I asked this question to a few friends, the answers gave me a kaleidoscopic flash on the legendary actor\u2019s range of cinema. For film enthusiast Sundeep Pahwa<\/a>, it is the boyish Shashi Kapoor\u2019s first romantic hit Jab Jab Phool Khile<\/em> while for Silhouette<\/em> editor Amitava Nag<\/a>, it is the grim role of the upright newspaper editor in New Delhi Times<\/em> (which earned him the National Award) or of the aging Urdu poet Nur in Merchant-Ivory film In Custody<\/em>. As for Sangeeta Gupta<\/a>, “The only hero that I liked during my young days was Shashi Kapoor and Dharmendra…Dharmendra for his good looks and Shashi for his chulbulapan. I liked Aamne Saamne<\/em> because it was a suspense film and of course I liked Shashi in that…same as for Sharmilee<\/em> apart from the music.” “He was adorable as a child artist in Awara<\/em>,” says\u00a0\u00a0Pakanati Lakshmi Priya.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Well, for this writer, the grey-haired Shashi Kapoor holding a drink in his hand and giving a piece of mind to himself in Kabhi Kabhie<\/em> is the first image that flashes in mindscape. \u201cIs duniya mein aadmi insaan ban jaye … toh bahut badi baat hai<\/em>\u201d. Ravi Malhotra lashes out at his own small-mindedness for doubting his faithful wife of years “bahut chhote aadmi nikle Mr Vijay Khanna”<\/em> as a stunned Amitabh Bachchan and Raakhee look on and walks away the most heart-warming character that stays with you long after superhit multi-starrer has ended.<\/p>\n

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Shashi Kapoor got some of the most iconic dialogues (Pic: Google Image Search)<\/p><\/div>\n

And it wasn\u2019t the first time that Shashi had stunned the towering Bachchan into silence on screen with a turbo-powered dialogue \u2013 remember Deewar\u2019s iconic dialogue \u201cMere paas Ma hai<\/em>\u201d or \u201cBhaaaiii, tum sign karoge ya nahin?\u201d <\/em> prompting Bachchan to retort, “Jaao, pehle us aadmi ka sign leke aao…<\/em>”\u00a0But more on the ever popular Kapoor-Bachchan jugalbandi later in the story.<\/p>\n

When the wide-eyed Shashi Kapoor had surreptitiously watched a ravishing Nanda sing Yeh sama, sama hai yeh pyar ka in wondrous amazement in Jab Jab Phool Khile<\/em> (1965), he had won over the audience with his charmingly innocent good looks, that dimpled smile and happy-go-lucky demeanour. Carving out a niche in an industry dominated by his two elder brothers Raj and Shammi along with Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar and Rajendra Kumar wasn\u2019t a cakewalk although he had the prestigious Kapoor in his name. The youngest son of the legendary Prithviraj Kapoor had a tall order to match up to, starting right at home! In fact, his first appearances on screen had started as the younger Raj Kapoor in Aag<\/em> (1948) and Awaara<\/em> (1951) and also as a child artist in Sangram<\/em> (1950) and as younger brother to Shyam and Ashok Kumar in Samadhi<\/em> (1951).<\/p>\n

He debuted in his acting career as the lead actor with Char Diwari<\/em> (1961), directed by Krishan Chopra, the film which in its credits said \u201cintroducing Shashi Kapoor\u201d. But although it got some critical attention, it bombed at the box office. His first full-fledged role came in BR Films\u2019 Dharamputra<\/em> (1961), the second directorial venture of Yash Chopra where he had Indrani Mukherjee playing his lady love but the spotlight was on the lead pair Rehman and Mala Sinha. The film based on the turmoil of the Partition of India didn\u2019t fare well at the box office either.<\/p>\n

Says Peeyush Sharma<\/a>, film and music collector and Consulting Editor of Silhouette,<\/em> \u201cPrem Patra<\/em> (1962) directed by Bimal Roy and Benazir<\/em> (1964) though directed by Khaleel, also under supervision of Bimal Roy, set his grounding as an actor. He learnt and polished his craft to become an \u2018at ease\u2019 and natural actor, a style he carried all through his career, even when faced with tougher roles later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dil mein ik jaan-e-tamanna ne jagah payi hai<\/em><\/strong> (Benazir<\/em>\/1964) S.D.Burman \/Shakeel Badayuni \/ Mohd Rafi<\/span><\/p>\n