A retrospective of Shashi Kapoor's films at MAMI sets Dinesh Raheja up to a rewind
Au00a0retrospective of Shashi Kapoor's films atu00a0MAMI sets Dinesh Raheja up to a rewind
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I was pleased. Firstly, because Kapoor is deserving he is the rare popular star who didn't stay smugly satisfied, Cheshire cat-like, with his pay-packet and his popularity but ploughed his earnings back into producing different cinema Junoon, Kalyug, Vijeta, 36 Chowringhee Lane, Utsav etc; and so what if he didn't make millions from these films or build an empire.
I was happy also because I find Shashi refreshingly affable and amiable as a person. Though he had done most of his best films before I even entered journalism in the eighties, I remember him introducing himself to me with "Hello, I am Shashi Kapoor" thereby putting me out of the misery of thinking of ways and means to approach him. The occasion was a party to celebrate the release of his directorial venture, Ajooba (1991), at Mumbai's China Garden. Someone told me recently, that holding a party at the swanky China Garden, Kemp's Corner was a novelty for Bollywood those days; but then both Shashi Kapoor's style of acting and the choice of films he produced, were undoubtedly unique.
Also bearing his novel signature, on a lighter note, was his archetypical 'left shoulder droop, then right shoulder droop, then raise both shoulders' style of dancing. Check out Aamne Saamne, Suhaag et al. It never failed to amuse me whenever I saw his films.
The first time I met Shashi, however, was half-a-decade prior to the Ajooba party. I was writing a feature on his amazing physical transformation from the hitherto suave, handsome star to the overweight and despicable Samsthanak of Utsav (1985). To play Samsthanak, he had to sport heavy ornaments, an exaggerated smirk and an oversized moustache, and stalk the beauteous courtesan, Vasantsena (Rekha). I remember, the make-up man and stylist worked on him for hours but Shashi was patience personified. Years later, I wasn't sure if he would remember me from that isolated meeting, but he definitely needn't have bothered to introduce himself most of the nation recognises him.
To be even-handed, Shashi Kapoor is known to have had an acerbic sense of humour and Bollywood lore has it that he has a sharp edge to his tongue, but fortunately I have never been at the receiving end. In fact, I have been more exposed to his sensitive side. A few years ago, while doing a celebrity cooking related interview with my wife, Anita, and friend Heena, he made an observation that I quote ad nauseum. Shashi said, "I avoid going to five-star hotels. The five-star hotel's per day charges are much more than the salary of an average Indian."
He was also mellow on the handful of occasions that I interacted with him. As the editor of Movie, I had sent a reporter to do a story on how his three kids, Kunal, Karan and Sanjana, could not emulate his success in Bollywood, and Shashi had remained courteous, and in a display of the famous Kapoor charm, even dropped the reporter till the lift.
I was not into approaching stars for autographed photographs but at my (late) cousin Subhash's persistence he was an avid autograph hunter I had posted three fan letters: one to Shashi Kapoor, the other to Sadhana and the third to Pran. The first to respond was Shashi Kapoor with a personalised message and signature; gentleman Pran and stylish Sadhana also responded but it was more than a month before the postman was at the receiving end of a goofy grin from me.
In a casual chat, Karan Johar had once said, "Some of the best looking people in the movies are Punjabis and who epitomises this better than Dharmendra and Shashi Kapoor?"
Undoubtedly, Shashi Kapoor was handsome. I stand corrected, is handsome, albeit with streaks of grey in his hair. And with him, the old adage 'handsome is what handsome does' gains meaning. His childhood friend, Prayag Raaj (who worked with Shashi in plays made by Prithviraj Kapoor, later became a popular screenplay writer and also directed Shashi in Paap Aur Punya), and his publicist Gopal Pandey (whose association with Shashi dates back to four decades) vouch for Kapoor being a magnanimous person.
Unlike today, stars of the 1960s shared a genuine bonhomie. Or, at least, some of them did. Shashi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar and Dharmendra all started out in films in 1960-61; became good friends; and, by a quirk of fate, attained stardom almost simultaneously five years later in the mid-'60s with Jab Jab Phool Khile, Himalay Ki God Mein and Phool Aur Pathar respectively.u00a0
Manoj once told me, "One day, Shashi Kapoor and I made a pact at Central Studios that we would sign the other as the hero, if and when either of us turned director. Subsequently, I cast Shashi in three of my productions u2014 Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Kranti and Clerk."
Shashi had once quipped good-humoredly, "Each time I recommended Hema Malini to a producer, she recommended Dharmendra to the very producer! But I didn't mind because Dharmendra was a good soul. Once, in our struggling days, a producer refused to pay for Dharmendra's taxi fare. As a result, Dharmendra was very upset. He is a very emotional man, he can break into tears very easily. So I took him home we were shooting at Central studios and I lived nearby and we had lunch together."
Before Jab Jab Phool Khile, Shashi was megastars Raj and Shammi Kapoor's jinxed kid brother; but after this film, which has a certain je ne sais quoi charm about it, his female fan following multiplied exponentially. Shashi Kapoor graciously acknowledges that in his pre-success days, other leading ladies of the 60s treated him like box-office poison but Nanda worked with him in more than half-a-dozen films.
While discussing with Shyam Benegal the films that should have made it to Shashi Kapoor's retrospective, we concurred that besides Junoon, which is being shown, Benegal's other outing with Shashi, Kalyug should also have been included. I rooted strongly for the inclusion of the escapist entertainer, Jab Jab Phool Khile, to showcase Shashi's infectious joie de vivre and sincerity as the shikarawala (hear him enunciate 'houseboat' as 'ausboat') who is smitten by a modern memsaab (Nanda). In response, Shyam said, "Do you know that in north Africa, in places like Morocco and Algeria, Jab Jab Phool Khile was weekly fare on television. It was hugely popular with the population of those countries."
In the late 60s, Shashi's career ebbed in Hindi films, with an occasional hit like the Prakash Mehra-directed Haseena Maan Jaayegi (a double role opposite Babita) keeping him afloat. But, enthused by Ismail Merchant, he dabbled with English films like Bombay Talkie and also the Guy Green-directed Pretty Polly. Conrad Rooks cast him in the ambitious Siddhartha. Shyam observes, "Shashi was the first Indian actor to essay a main lead in Hollywood films. He could have easily made a career in Hollywood, if he had chosen to because he had the looks, the personality and the command over the English language, accent et al."
After Chor Machaye Shor ('74), a rare outing with Mumtaz as his leading lady, Shashi had producers clamouring for him again. But by now Shashi had become so insecure, he started signing films with a vengeance. In the mid-'70s, the buzz was that he had an unprecedented 150 films on hand! With Amitabh Bachchan he formed a profitable jugalbandi in stellar ensemble productions like Deewaar, Kabhi Kabhie, Trishul, Suhaag and Namak Halal. Elder brother Raj Kapoor cast him in his Satyam Shivam Sundaram ('78), but, finding it difficult to source dates, famously branded him 'a taxi' available on call but equipped with a ticking meter.
But there was a method in Shashi's madness. He worked in numerous commercial films of varying quality to finance cinema he cared for. He teamed up with art world biggies like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, Aparna Sen and Girish Karnad, to make quality films like Junoon, Kalyug, 36 Chowringhee Lane, Vijeta and Utsav. He doffed his hat at his father Prithviraj Kapoor's love for the theatre by establishing the influential Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, Mumbai.
Unfortunately, once Shashi's film career dwindled, his finances could not match up to the scale of his ambition and, perhaps most importantly, Shashi lost his wife Jennifer ("the only woman I ever loved in my life"). A disenchanted Shashi let his weight balloon and desultorily searched for motivation. In 1994, Ismail Merchant's In Custody brought Shashi out of his self-imposed hibernation, albeit temporarily, to play the role of a dissolute poet. For those who are interested, Muhafiz aka In Custody, is being screened at the MAMI festival.
When Shashi Kapoor was only 43 (younger than Shah Rukh and Aamir today) his son Kunal had already made his debut as a hero. Perhaps, Shashi crossed most milestones early in life. He acted on stage and films (Awara) as a child, married at 20, made his debut as a hero at 23. He even made the switch to character roles early. And he retired, voluntarily, all too early.
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