A tribute to Shashi Kapoor on the occasion of his 81st birthday: the many faces of the legendary Shakespeare Wallah

Most Kapoors have a definitive image that is known to them. Either the fans and the critics who are responsible, or the stars themselves, it's a curious alchemy that we will never know. Thus, Prithviraj Kapoor is inscribed in public memory as a strong man of historical epics (thanks, but not thanks to Sikandar and Mughal-E-Azam). His son, Raj Kapoor, is the ultimate showman, the tramp, the women's executioner in sensual white and cinematic voyeur. With his famous cry of "Yahoo", as he rushed down a snowy mountain, debonair Shammi Kapoor redefined the romance – wilder, better it would be. With his chocolate look, Rishi Kapoor will forever be a teenybopper idol. What is Shashi Kapoor's place in the K family arc and do we also hear the Bollywood story? The history of Hindi cinema is a Kapoor male festival, after all.

When Shashi Kapoor died at the age of 79 in 2017 after a long battle with cirrhosis of the liver, the obituaries after the obituaries described him as a main romantic role. So, like other Kapoors, his general image was that of a romantic star. But he was more than a pretty face with a seductive smile. Indeed, he had a way with romance. Now he may not have the burgeoning baritone of Prithviraj Kapoor, nor is he the cappy and nervous peasant in Raj Kapoor's mold. He certainly lacked the wild and fluid style of Shammi Kapoor. Shashi Kapoor's approach to romance was softer and more modest, which may have led her to acquire the most underrated "Kapoor" tag. It's a deceptive label because how to call an unrecognized person who, while his heyday in the 1970s was as popular as Raj or Shammi Kapoor was perhaps at home? For today's readers, you can imagine it on the same pedestal as Ranbir Kapoor's, with hits like Sanju, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Rockstar and Barfi! under his belt.

Born to Act

Born in the Kapoor family was born to act. In the case of young Shashi Kapoor, he was a superstar in the making. With Prithviraj as father and Raj Kapoor as elder brother, Kapoor would not have needed much conviction to face the camera. Like most Kapoors, he was not very educated and wore this as a sign of honor. His film education began under the watchful eye of the father and his older brother. You can see him as a young child of Awara, in 1951, being teased by a neighborhood tyrant as a "chhokri" (a girl). Growing up, the same sweet boy tunes that were mocked at Awara would be very popular in a series of romantic comedies from the late 1960s. In the 1970s, Shashi Kapoor was a craze for the female audience.

A decade later, after his stint as a child star, Kapoor entered Bollywood as a leader. Yash Chopra's Dashmputra (1961) was not the kind of movie you'd expect from this beautiful Kapoor to opt for his adult debut. But by choosing the Dharmputra, Shashi Kapoor has turned out to be someone who loves cinema and plays too intensely and who cares less about fame and money. The risk has not been profitable. Kapoor's Dharmputra, a radical group of Muslim hatred, with its socially conscious theme, unconventional plot and shocking end was too difficult to handle for an audience who reveled in the light jokes of Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar. tragedies. Incidentally, 1961 was the same year when Shammi Kapoor threw the rulebook out of the window with Junglee, triggering a new moral code for youth. And here was Shashi taking hesitant steps in the cinema, with a brave film, although risky, who carried his policy on his sleeve. All of Kapoor's early films, including author Bimal Roy's, have all been defeated. "I became a jinx," said Kapoor, years later. "The producers canceled my roles. "Shashi Kapoor nahin chalega (he will not sell)," they said and resumed the amount of the signature, "he told the reporter Madhu Jain in his book" Kapoors: The first family of Indian cinema "

Jab Jab Phool, 1965 Khile, in which he entered the territory of Shammi Kapoor with his exotic Kashmiri setting and outstanding music, eventually broke the spell, and Shammi Kapoor made the embarrbading act of falling into Dal Lake filled with shikara Jab Jab Phool Khile is a film that could have been written for Shammi if only the writers had reversed the plot Here, Shashi plays a poor guy who rents his barge to a rich girl (Nanda) On the other hand, Shammi's Kashmir tubes usually portray him as a fat kid falling for the village beauty.Tail: Cashmere Ki Kali Meanwhile, Jab Jab Phool Khile offered Shashi a well-deserved success – as well as the bon-porte Lucky ur, Nanda, with whom he had hit a popular romantic couple.

Contrary to Shammi Kapoor's blazing melodramatic melodramatic, Kapoor's romance was too subtle, refusing to scream, although he had his share of jumps and hisses in the high-energy song " Affoo khuda "by Jab Jab Phool Khile (subject of a tribute in the recent Zero of Shah Rukh Khan).

The Second Hero

In the 1970s, Kapoor co-played a leading role. commercial successes with Amitabh Bachchan (Deewaar, Trishul, Suhaag, Shaan, Kabhi Kabhie and Silsila), often as the second violin of the angry young man. The slogan "Mere paas maa hai", a creation inspired by Salim-Javed entrusted to Ravi (girlfriend / son / human) model in a scene of confrontation with his brother on the screen (Bachchan, lost in the world of crime ) in Deewaar, has since gone into pop culture. Sometimes, Kapoor is not rewarded for having animated these masala artists thanks to its presence on a magnetic screen, the focus usually being on Bachchan. In truth, Bachchan was a bigger star but Shashi, despite the second bill, imbued his performances with a sincerity and charm that filmmakers such as Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Prakash Mehra and Manmohan Desai reportedly found unsatisfactory. Then there was also the question of which great star of good faith would willingly give way to a second-tier role opposite Bachchan, touted as the one-man industry of those days? Actors like Shashi, Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna have done so, with deep confidence and inner confidence that their turn would not go unnoticed.

And that's not the case. Upon his death, Amitabh Bachchan, with whom he had made a friendship that lasted throughout his life, wrote on his blog: "He affectionately addressed me as" babbua "… and with him went from 'incredible unread chapters of his life and my life'. Innings

Shashi Kapoor's distinguished career is also notable for his penchant for alternative cinema since he financed the clbadics of parallel cinema of the 1970s, thus making jewels such as Junoon, Kalyug, Utsav and Chowringhee Lane. Straddling the two worlds, Yash Chopra and Shyam Benegal, he also found time to work closely with James Ivory and Ismail Merchant of Hollywood. He directed his first film with them, in English, B & W The Householder, in 1963 and it was the beginning of a long collaboration that also included Shakespeare Wallah, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Heat and Dust. In the film world of Merchant-Ivory, he was once a teacher and playboy, then a Bollywood actor and a Nawab. One of Kapoor's most memorable performances at the end of his career was also shown in an Ivory-Merchant production. In Custody (1993), based on Anita Desai's novel, sees him as a debauched Urdu poet from Bhopal, a corpulent shadow of his rich past – a metaphor for the ruined traditions of the Urdu language itself. Nur (Kapoor) is torn between his two wives, more groupies clinging to him like houseflies and a true admirer, a Hindi professor (Om Puri) charged with chronicling the life of a great man for a periodic. It's a dense role and Kapoor leads from the front, alternately painting an image of Nur as a figure of admiration and pity. This legendary poet who could have been nominated for a Nobel Prize is instead slaughtered. Fed by the wolverine and fond of his drink, the Falstaffian Nur reminds you of the many Kapoor men at the end of his life, from Prithviraj to Raj, through Shammi Kapoor. The head of the household. It's about The Householder that Shashi would have met his future wife, Jennifer Kendal, a true love story that would change her life. She inspired her commitment to the theater, a legacy that continues in the Prithvi Theater in Mumbai as an incubator for stage talent. He was thrown in front of Jennifer's slender sister, Felicity Kendal, in The Householder, under the spell of charming sweetie. At one point, he loses his reason when an undisciplined customer badaults his love during a show. Some scenes later, severely bruised, Kapoor's Sanju tells Felicity, in a moment of tension, that he could not stay there while she was being abused. Citing the Indian word izzat (honor), Sanju retorts, "When such a creature whistles you, it's against my izzat."

Izzat.Honor.You can use exactly the same words to summarize the life and career of this thespian

(Shaikh Ayaz is a writer and journalist based in Mumbai)