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.