How did the Indian actor Shashi Kapoor inspire Bollywood?

 1.Youngest of the Kapoors

Shashi was the youngest Kapoor, in both his private life and on screen. Shashi first made his debut as a child artist with his father Privthiraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatres, and soon started portraying younger versions of his famous older brother, Raj Kapoor. Apart from his great acting chops, his resemblance to his brothers made him one of the most popular child artists of his time.

2.A softer star than the rest

While most actors of his time portrayed boisterous comedic personas or fell prey to the intense action/drama trope, Shashi held strong to his true nature even in his screen presence, and was always the softer charmer in his films. With softer roles in films such as Jab Jab Phool Khile and Sharmilee, he successfully proved that you can go against the tide and still succeed in Bollywood, paving the way for many later actors.

Shashi Kapoor and Nanda in the film Jab Jab Phool Khile Image courtesy of PM Sethia/HM Sethia

3.One of India’s first international stars

From Priyanka Chopra to Irrfan Khan, today might be a golden era for Bollywood stars entering international markets. Today’s actors doing so owe part of their success to Shashi Kapoor, who was one of the first Indian actors to test international waters. He acted in several popular English films in his early career, such as The Householder and Pretty Polly.

Shashi Kapoor in a scene from the movie The Householder Image Courtesy of Merchant-Ivory Productions

4.Merchant Ivory Productions

Shashi’s golden run in the international arena started in the ’60s, and was cemented through his long-time association with the India-oriented production house, Merchant-Ivory (a collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory). Among other actors associated with Merchant Ivory throughout their careers were Maggie Smith, Hugh Grant, and Uma Thurman.

Shashi Kapoor with Felicity Kendal in a scene from Shakespeare Wallah Image Courtesy of Merchant-Ivory Productions

5.Kapoor and Kendal

Shashi’s international films were made even more memorable by the fact that he was paired with his wife Jennifer Kendal in many of them. Shashi’s successful career in some ways mirrored his life with Jennifer. Her death in 1984 that shattered him. Their most successful films include Bombay Talkie and Shakespeare-wallah.

6.Bollywood’s most-important ‘wingman’

A testament to Shashi’s truly malleable and unconventional on-screen persona is the fact that he did not shy away from supporting roles in his films, and took ownership of his characters, even if they were second-fiddle to the hero. Shashi acted in more than 20 films as supporting actor, with his most famous pairing being with Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

7.Mere Paas Maa Hain’

The most successful film to have come out of Shashi and Bachchan’s pairing was Deewar, which also featured what is probably the most popular dialogue ever in Bollywood’s history. The dramatic exchange between Shashi and Amitabh Bachchan is still remembered as one of the most-iconic in Bollywood.

A poster of Deewar which stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor in the lead Image Courtesy of Gulshan Rai/Trimurti Films

8.Prithvi Theatre

In 1978, Shashi and his wife Jennifer constructed the Prithvi Theatre to fulfill the dream of Shashi’s father to have a permanent home for his theatre company. In doing so, the couple gave Mumbai, and India, one of its foremost and best-known theatre venues. It still stands tall today and is one of the most popular landmarks in Juhu, Mumbai.

A play being performed at Prithvi Theatre in its earlier years

9.Art cinema’s most powerful supporter in India

In the later years of his career, Shashi and his wife Jennifer were responsible for the production of several art films that were critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. As someone from the all-powerful Kapoor family of Bollywood, Shashi’s involvement with art cinema led to more people’s attraction to this stream of filmmaking and more resources being put into it.

Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal in the film Bombay Talkie Image Courtesy of Merchant Ivory Productions

10.Lifelong patronage for cinema

Shashi’s prolific career (in which he’d made more than 100 films) slowly waned after the death of his wife Jennifer in 1984. However, he remained a life-long patron of cinema and continued acting in memorable roles till the late ’90s. He was a rare actor to have maintained a successful career that started as a child artist and ran all the way until his later years.

Shashi Kapoor as a child artist in the film Aag in 1948 Image Courtesy of RK Films

11.Bollywood’s evergreen romantic

The only thing that is perhaps even more memorable than Shashi Kapoor’s movies are the romantic tracks featured in them. From evergreen songs such as Khilte Hain Gul Yahan to Likhe Jo Khat Tujhe, Shashi Kapoor’s romantic tracks are still a staple for every old-fashioned romantic.

What did Shashi Kapoor see in Amitabh Bachchan that led him to advise against taking minor roles early in Bachchan’s career?

 This incident happened on the sets of Merchant Ivory productions Bombay Talkies in 1970.

Shashi Kapoor was the lead actor of the film and this was the time when Amitabh Bachchan was struggling as an actor to get work. Amitabh Bachchan tells us that he was told that he has to be part of the crowd and he will be paid for that so he agreed our of desperation even though he was playing an extra in the crowd. In the film’s last scene when Shashi Kapoor’s funeral scene was picturised Amitabh was part of the crowd. So the crowd scenes were shot without Shashi Kapoor.

When Shashi Kapoor came to set, he was surprised to see Amitabh Bachchan there. He asked him what is he doing there? Amitabh told him he is working as extra for some money. Shashi Kapoor became livid and he scolded Amitabh that he should not ruin his career by doing bit roles as he is meant for bigger things given his performance in his debut film Saat Hindustani which had fetched him a National Award. So why should he work as an extra? Shashi Kapoor got that scene removed from the film.

It was not just Shashi Kapoor but the great director Hrishikesh Mukherjee who believed that Amitabh Bachchan was meant for bigger things. During the same time Amitabh Bachchan was signed by Mukherjee for Guddi, even though it was a heroine centric role and the make lead was a small role. A few months later Amitabh’s and Mukherjee’s film Anand released and became a cult film. Hrishikesh Mukherjee realised that Amitabh has much more potential which should not be wasted in a small role like Guddi. So he asked him to leave the film and do bigger films (Hrishikesh Mukherjee eventually gave him many defining roles of his career including Namak Haraam, Abhimaan, Chupke Chupke etc).

When Shashi Kapoor gave a strong slap to this beautiful beauty, know why the actor did such an act?

• We are talking about Bollywood beauty Poonam Dhillon. Who won the title of Miss India at the age of just 16. Very few people know that Poonam's dream was to become a doctor but fate pulled her to Bollywood.Poonam Dhillon had made a special place in the hearts of millions of people in Hindi cinema not only with her beauty but also with her excellent acting. But once something like this happened with the actress and veteran actor Shashi Kapoor. Which he never expected.

• This story is about the shooting of a film. In one scene of which Shashi Kapoor had to slap Poonam. But the actress did not know this. In such a situation, when the director called for action, Shashi slapped Poonam hard without thinking anything. Due to which the actress was surprised.When the scene ended, Shashi Kapoor realized that he had slapped Poonam too hard to make it real. After which he immediately went to the actress and apologized to her.

• Poonam Dhillon started her career with the film 'Trishul'. After this he worked in many films like ‘Yeh Vaada Raha’, ‘Nishan’, ‘Laila’, ‘Zamaana’.After Bollywood, the actress entered the small screen and worked in many hit shows there too.

What was the nickname given by Raj Kapoor to Shashi Kapoor during the shooting of the film Satyam Shivam Sundaram?

 There was a strange reason behind to the question why Raj Kapoor used to call his younger brother Shashi Kapoor ‘Taxi'.

It was the time when Raj Kapoor had planned to make one of his iconic and most talked about film Satyam Shivam Sundaram, which told the difference between physical love and spiritual love.

When many actors were queueing up to perform the lead role, Raj Kapoor thought that only Shashi Kapoor is appropriate for the role of a male protogonist. But Shashi Kapoor was a demanding actor of those days, all the top directors wanted to cast him in their films and Shashi was committed with 4 to 5 filmmakers.

Also Raj Kapoor wanted dates in a bunch and with a condition that when Shashi would work for Satyam Shivam Sundaram he would not work for any other film during the shooting of this film.

So Shashi had to work round the clock, he would do 4–5 shifts a day and sleep in a car, his own or in a hired taxi .

To Raj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor always looked like “running away in taxi” and so he gave him the nickname ‘taxi'.

Raj, out of frustration that his younger brother is not having enough time for his film Satyam Shivam Sundaram, he called him as “Taxi”.

Raj Kapoor would tell Shashi Kapoor that, “ You people aren't artists. You are all taxis. Someone puts your meter down, you go there. Then someone else puts your meter down and you go there.”

For one more reason Shashi got this nicknane that is, he was known to pick up or drop any of his co-actors in his car or taxi as he travelled regularly between places and shifts for shooting for his films.

What was the last movie of Shashi Kapoor?

 One of the iconic stars of Bollywood Shashi Kapoor for the last time appeared on the silver screen in the year 1998.

In 1998 Shashi Kapoor acted in two films one is Hindi film Ghar Bazaar and another one is English film Side Streets.

In Ghar Bazaar he made a special appearance. Sharmila Tagore, Shekar Suman were in the leading roles.

It got delayed in the release of Ghar Bazaar, it had its audio launch in 1986 but the film was released after 2 decades in 1998.

In the English film Side Streets, Shashi Kapoor did the leading role of Vikram Raj alongside Valeria Golino, Shabana Azmi and others. It was written and directed by Tony Gerber and it was co- produced by Ismail Merchant and others.

The film was released on 6th September 1998 at the Venice Film Festival. It was theatricaly released in the UK on 25th April, 1999.

So Ghar Bazaar had become Shashi Kapoor's final Hindi film and Side Streets had become his final English film.

Shashi Kapoor had acted in over 150 films since his first film as a leading actor in the 1961s Yash Chopra’s film Dharmaputra. As a child artist he faced the camera in 1948 in Raj Kapoor's film Aag. In English he did around 12 films.

Some of his popular Hindi films are Sharmilee, Roti Kapda Aur Makhan, Deewar, Trishul, Kranti, Namak Halal and many more. He collaborated with Amitabh Bachchan in several films and most of their films were box office hits.

Shashi Kapoor had passed away on 4th December, 2017 at the age of 79. He is the receipient of Dada Saheb Phalke Award, Padma Bhushan, 3 National Film Awards and 2 Filmfare Awards.