Actor Shashi Kapoor, who passed away on Monday at the age of 79, was undoubtedly the supremely talented and the most handsome of the Kapoor thespian clan, who, like Amitabh Bachchan, decided to stay on a middle path appealing both to high brow and masala audience.
While his eldest brother Raj was exploring new frontiers to evolve a truly desi cinema and his other sibling, Shammi, gyrated, waltzing around beautiful damsels in distress playing the good samaritan of love sliding down snowbanks of Kashmir and Shimla, Shashi decided to borrow best of both and follow his unerring instincts.
Many in my generation of Sri Lankans may have shed a tear or two after hearing the passing of the great Indian hero. I would not call him a Bollywood star. He is a truly quintessential Indian icon not divided by any ‘Woods’.
When ragtag armies of frustrated youths created mayhem trying to overthrow the status quo in Sri Lanka sowing anarchy, and when security forces unleashed their unrestrained wrath, and later as we watched with horror what damage the politicians were doing to us, Bollywood films were one of our main escapes into sanity, at least for a short period like two and a half hours.
Who can forget those handsome men of the 60s and 70s in their elaborate kurtas – Shashi, Rajesh Khanna, Rajendra Kumar, Jitendra, Sanjay (Khan), Manoj Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan – who wiped our worries away with one single swipe of a hand! Who can forget the days we crowded into Borella Lido and Ritz and Maradana Crown after waiting for hours in a long line to see a Bollywood movie!
Those days our budgets were limited to 55 cents for the gallery and Rs.1.10 for the Second Class. The ODC and the balcony were preferred when we were accompanied by dates! The rumour is that some of the participants of the 1971 insurrection whiled away their time at a 9.30pm show waiting to launch their dawn attacks on April 5! Bollywood was so intrinsically linked to us in every way!
In a country where no one spoke Hindi, Geeth ran non-stop at the Crown Theatre for two years. Abhiman ran continuously for one year at the Empire which was usually reserved for English films. Third record breaker was Jub Pyar Kisise Hotha Hai, which was even dubbed in Sinhala. That was much before politics soiled entertainment, much before ill-fated Colombo IFFI film festival broke the hearts of many Sri Lankan film fans.
Siddhartha was one of the most popular films of Shashi which ran for a long time at the Regal Cinema. The movie, based on Herman Hesse’s novel which I believe has a Sinhala translation, became a big hit owing to its Buddhist theme, deft direction by Conrad Rooks and Shashi’s marvellous acting. Who can forget Shashi’s co-star Simi Garewal who in a tweet mourns the death of the great Indian icon tweeting: “Am deeply saddened by the passing away of my co-star Shashi Kapoor. The last of that generation of Kapoors. A gentleman and friend gone. An era gone. All that remains are his films..and precious memories”. That sums up everything about the great star.
I don’t think Shashi was flamboyant like Shammi or Rajesh Khanna and remained down to earth and scandal-free despite the fanatic adoration surrounding him. He was the first Indian to go international paving the way for others like Om Puri. Out of his enormous repertoire running into some 170 films it is difficult for me choose the best work. My shortlist includes Junoon, Kaliyug, Utsav, 36 Chowringhee Lane, Heat and Dust, Siddhartha and The Householder and I think I would settle for the latter, the first collaboration between producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, based on a novel written by one of my favourite writers, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, a Booker Prize winner.
It is sad to see the passing of a great artiste like Shashi. We knew he was ill for sometime. His weight ballooned and he was said to be devastated by his English actress wife Jennifer Kendal’s death due to cancer. So long Shashi! We have never seen you in real life though you lived just 30 miles away, but you and the legend you created in our non-Hindi speaking country will never be forgotten! Shashi would have liked to know that many children in Sri Lanka have been named after him! – www.newstrails.com
