The tallest, lankiest and most flamboyant middle sibling of the Kapoor trio was named Shamshar Raj Kapoor, who later came to be known as Shammi Kapoor. All three brothers were born at three different places with an age gap of around seven years between them. While the eldest, Raj Kapoor, perhaps the shortest, was born in Peshawar, Shammi was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), and the youngest, Shashi Kapoor (originally named Balbir Raj Kapoor), was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
Shammi’s father, Prithvi Raj Kapoor, and elder brother, Raj Kapoor, were already big names. Theirs is called the first family of the film industry. Therefore, it was only natural and expected for Shammi to follow in the footsteps of his father and elder brother Raj Kapoor. He launched his Hindi film career with an unsuccessful film called Jeevan Jyori in 1953. For the next four years most of his films, like Rail Ka Dibba, Naqab, Laila Majnu, Ham sab chor hain, Shama Parwana, Mirza Sahiba etc., didn’t prove helpful to Shammi Kapoor as an actor.
It was Tumsa Nahin Dekho, directed by Nasir Hussain and released in 1957, and Dil Deke Dkho in 1959, which established Shammi as a stylish playboy actor. So much so that he started being called the Elvis Presley of India. His next film, titled Junglee, released in 1961, established his image, and the song yaaahoo! sung by Mohammad Rafi made him very popular with the masses. By that time, he had already become a household name and acquired stardom. In the 1960’s he played lead roles in many films with newcomer actresses like Sharmila Tagore, Asha Parikh, Saira and Sadhna.
Professionally, 1968 was a big successful and rewarding year for Shammi Kapoor when he received his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role in the film Brahamchari. In fact, the 1960’s can be called his most successful period, with many of his films ruling box office year after year. Films like Professor in 1962, Kashmir Ki Kali in 1964, followed by Teesri Manzil 1966, An Evening in Paris 1967, Brahamchari in 1968 and Prince in 1969.
My personal favorite from Shammi’s stable is the 1964 romantic film Kashmir ki Kali, directed by Shakti Samanta, starring Sharmila Tagore in the female lead. It had lyrics by S H Bihari and music by O P Nayyar. The song Isharon hi Isharon main dil lene wale is so enchanting, with its soothing music and the way it was filmed on the lead players Shammi and Sharmila. It is my personal favorite to this day.
While elder brother Raj Kapoor remains the most versatile and most successful of all the brothers, who worked with great success in all fields of film making as founder/owner of R K films and Studios, as producer, actor, and director who was most awarded and rewarded in his life, who produced, directed, and acted in several box office blockbusters and died at a relatively young age of 63.
Shammi Kapoor in his 79 years of life remained confined mostly to playing actor in the Hindi movies. In the mid-seventies, Shammi produced and directed his first film Manorajan starring himself as a bar owner, Sanjiv Kumar playing an honest police officer, and Zeenat Aman in the female lead as a prostitute. The film was based on a very successful 1963 French romantic comedy film called Irma La Douce directed by Billy Wilder. Shammi came to release the film in Delhi with his second wife Neela Devi when I had my first and last encounter with the couple. One of Shammi’s pictures taken that day was published in my 10-page photo feature in the Reader’s Digest.
The views expressed here are the author’s own and The News Porter bears no responsibility for the same.
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