“Shammi ji........ An entire life full of optimism and happy spirit, caring loving to all.......... Now suddenly silent.”- Amitabh Bachchan.
50 years ago who gave millions of Indians the famous word ‘Yahoo’ is no more. The veteran actor Shammi Kapoor , hailed as ‘Elvis Presley of India’ and whose famous yell ‘Chahe Koi Mujhe Jangli Kahe’ signified the arrival of a rebel star against the reigning trio of his time Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar, passed away here on Sunday morning due to chronic renal failure.
Brother Raj Kapoor brought out the pathos of the masses, Dilip Kumar taught that tragedy is all ,Dev Anand made the believe in romance but it was Shammi Kapoor who hammered home the message that being sexy is fun. His style of dancing was compared to Elvis Presley’s. It was also action packed. He rolled , jumped and did everything, which heroes of his time would have never done or even thought of.
The true blue flower child of the 60s Shammi Kapoor was born as Shamsher Raj Kapoor on October 21, 1931 in Mumbai. His father was the great theatre and film doyen, Prithviraj Kapoor. Shammi Kapoor was the second of the three sons born to Prithviraj (the other two being Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor), both of whom were, like their father, successful Bollywood actors. Though born in Mumbai, he spent a major portion of his childhood in Kolkata as his father was involved with New Theatres. He did his Montessory and Kindergarten in Kolkata. After coming back to Mumbai he first went to St.Joseph’s Convent and then to Don Bosco School and after that he finished his schooling from New Era School at Hughes Road. He went on to study engineering before entering the world of cinema with Jeevan Jyoti in 1953. Shammi Kapoor had a short stint at Ruia College in Matunga Mumbai. After that he joined his father’s theatrical company ‘Prithvi Theatres’.
Shammi ji like his elder brother Raj Kapoor got involved in both theatre and films. In his younger days he was with a pencil moustache and lanky figure and used to look too much like Raj Kapoor. Hence in the initial years he got similar social dramas like Rail Ka Dibba with a very young Madhubala. He entered in cinema world in 1948 as a junior artist at a salary of Rs 150 per month. He stayed with ‘Prithvi Theatres’ for the next four years and collected his last pay check of Rs 300 in 1952.
Much like Amitabh Bachchan later, most of Shammi’s initial films turned out to be huge flops at the box office.Despite acting with the biggest of heroines like Madhubala,Nutan,Suraiya,he just didn’t click with the audience. And then came the makeover. Perhaps taking a cue from the men making waves in the west at that time,James Dean and the Beatles, Shammi shaved off his pencil moustache and shaped his hair in the famous ducktail style. Tunsa Nahin Dekha in 1957 finally worked wonders and the new Shammi , channelizing an easy, infections energy , besides the change in appearance was a hit. His rebellious image was further endorsed by hits like Dil Deke Dekho (1959) and Junglee (1961) which made him the definite challenger to the Dilip-Raj-Dev troika. Films like Dil tera Deewana(1962), Professor(1962), Rajkumar (1964) , Janwar (1965) and Teesri Manzil (1966) further added to his box office charisma. In Brahmachari(1968) he got his Film Fare Award for best actor playing a man who ran an orphanage for abandoned children.
In the 1970s, Kapoor’s weight problem proved an obstacle in his path of success and ended his career as a romantic hero. One of his last hits , in which he played the lead role, was Andaz(1971). With time, he moved to character roles and acted in films like Zameer, Hero and Vidhata. In 1974 he donned the hat of a director and made Makoranian. Two years later he made Bandalbaaz(1976). However, both the films failed to create magic at the box office. His last appearance as a character role was in the film Sandwich in 2006. Recently he decided to act with his great nephew Ranbir Kapoor in Imtiaz Ali’s next movie Rockstar.
Professional success was marred by personal tragedy as he lost the love of his life Geeta Bali to small pox in 1965. They had a son Aditya Raj Kapoor and a daughter Kanchan. After that Kapoor lost heart and reportedly took to alcohol and food for solace. In 1969, he married Neela Devi Gohil from the Royal Family of Bhavnagar in Gujarat.
Always a man of technology Shammi ji took to the Internet in a big way and become the founder and chairman of the Internet User Community of India. It helped to set up many more cyber organisations in India.
Kapoor was admitted to Breach Candy Hospital on 7th August 2011. He was suffering from chronic renal failure. His condition remained serious for next few days , kept under ventilator support. However, the actor passed away on 14th August 2011, 05:15 am at the age of 79.
We pray to Almighty to bless his soul.........
“ Ho Sake To Lout Ke Aana”
About the Author-
Priya Panda is student of Journalism and Mass Communication at Muralidhar Girl's College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and they do not reflect in any way those of the Dispassionate Observer.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and they do not reflect in any way those of the Dispassionate Observer.
