Shammi Kapoor, the original ‘junglee’ of Hindi cinema is going great guns at 75. Moni Bhushan catches up with the thespian at his home. Photo: Hamara
MUMBAI (Daily News & Analysis - Grandeur), July 28, 2006: Returning home after having spent two hours with the suave hunk of the ’60s and ’70s, who rocked and swayed the nation with his ‘yahoos’ and ‘sookoosookoos’, I realised it was going to be a tough task, to do justice to the child-like persona of Shammi Kapoor.
Born as Shamsher Raj Kapoor on 31 October, 1931, he started his career by joining his father on the stage in his theatre company, Prithvi Theatres, as a junior artiste in 1948.
He would eventually embark on an illustrious film career, winning the Filmfare award for his roles in Brahmachari and Vidhaata, besides the Filmfare lifetime achievement award in 1995.
After his first wife, actor Geeta Bali, passed away in 1965, leaving behind a son and a daughter, Shammi Kapoor married one of his fans, Neela, in 1969.
Says Neela, “I’d once met Geeta Bali and taken her autograph, which is still one of my prized possessions. They often used to pass by our house in Vile Parle and I remember waving out to them from my window. I used to collect his articles and photographs from newspapers and magazines, and became a fan of the person who would one day become my husband!”
Neela’s dedication to her husband and his family of two children is nothing short of remarkable.
Says Aditya, Kapoor’s son from his marriage to Geeta Bali,“By choosing not to have children of her own, with the excuse that two were enough, my mother (Neela) gave up her future for the present.”
Kapoor’s transformation from a star to a deglamourised spiritual seeker came about in 1974, when he met a holy man, Shri Hairakhan Baba.
Says Kapoor of his spiritual guru, “In the foothills of Kumaon, the birthplace of many of India’s great saints of the past, lived Shri Hairakhan Baba. He had no known parents or family.
Some Hairakhan villagers saw him as an old man with a long, white beard, while others saw a young man with a long beard. He was seen in different places at the same time. He ate almost nothing for months and years on end. Yet his energy was boundless.”
The manner in which Kapoor’s spiritual tryst came about is interesting. Initially, Kapoor, who did not believe in ‘superstitions’, flatly refused his wife’s suggestion that he visit him.
But there was a change of circumstances when a shoot for Manmohan Desai’s Parvarish was cancelled. Desai declared an unscheduled holiday and asked the actor to go home and relax. Kapoor ended up meeting his Guru, and following the path of spiritual development under his guidance.
As he reminisces about his life, Kapoor takes me by the hand and shows me around his ‘computer room’. Not many know that he is one of India’s very first internet users. Way before internet came to India, he had already become a member of Apple’s ‘eworld’ and was surfing happily.
He beams like a child as he shows off his 22-inch computer monitor. “I’m planning to get a 30-inch one soon,” he says.
At 75, Kapoor is satisfied with what life has given him. Having survived several illnesses, he smiles as he says, “Both my kidneys have collapsed. I am on dialysis.”
As I get ready to leave, he holds my hands and peers into my eyes, a benign smile lighting up his face. I want to say, “Get well soon”. He winks at me, as if to say, “I know”.
In the time I spent with him, I could sense the energy, the passion and the intensity that made Shammi Kapoor the star he was, and still is. May he yahoo for many more years to come!
By Moni Bhushan
July 28, 2006
INDIA: A Class Act Forever By Our Own 'Yahoo' Man!
Shammi Kapoor, the original ‘junglee’ of Hindi cinema is going great guns at 75. Moni Bhushan catches up with the thespian at his home. Photo: Hamara
MUMBAI (Daily News & Analysis - Grandeur), July 28, 2006: Returning home after having spent two hours with the suave hunk of the ’60s and ’70s, who rocked and swayed the nation with his ‘yahoos’ and ‘sookoosookoos’, I realised it was going to be a tough task, to do justice to the child-like persona of Shammi Kapoor.
Born as Shamsher Raj Kapoor on 31 October, 1931, he started his career by joining his father on the stage in his theatre company, Prithvi Theatres, as a junior artiste in 1948.
He would eventually embark on an illustrious film career, winning the Filmfare award for his roles in Brahmachari and Vidhaata, besides the Filmfare lifetime achievement award in 1995.
After his first wife, actor Geeta Bali, passed away in 1965, leaving behind a son and a daughter, Shammi Kapoor married one of his fans, Neela, in 1969.
Says Neela, “I’d once met Geeta Bali and taken her autograph, which is still one of my prized possessions. They often used to pass by our house in Vile Parle and I remember waving out to them from my window. I used to collect his articles and photographs from newspapers and magazines, and became a fan of the person who would one day become my husband!”
Neela’s dedication to her husband and his family of two children is nothing short of remarkable.
Says Aditya, Kapoor’s son from his marriage to Geeta Bali,“By choosing not to have children of her own, with the excuse that two were enough, my mother (Neela) gave up her future for the present.”
Kapoor’s transformation from a star to a deglamourised spiritual seeker came about in 1974, when he met a holy man, Shri Hairakhan Baba.
Says Kapoor of his spiritual guru, “In the foothills of Kumaon, the birthplace of many of India’s great saints of the past, lived Shri Hairakhan Baba. He had no known parents or family.
Some Hairakhan villagers saw him as an old man with a long, white beard, while others saw a young man with a long beard. He was seen in different places at the same time. He ate almost nothing for months and years on end. Yet his energy was boundless.”
The manner in which Kapoor’s spiritual tryst came about is interesting. Initially, Kapoor, who did not believe in ‘superstitions’, flatly refused his wife’s suggestion that he visit him.
But there was a change of circumstances when a shoot for Manmohan Desai’s Parvarish was cancelled. Desai declared an unscheduled holiday and asked the actor to go home and relax. Kapoor ended up meeting his Guru, and following the path of spiritual development under his guidance.
As he reminisces about his life, Kapoor takes me by the hand and shows me around his ‘computer room’. Not many know that he is one of India’s very first internet users. Way before internet came to India, he had already become a member of Apple’s ‘eworld’ and was surfing happily.
He beams like a child as he shows off his 22-inch computer monitor. “I’m planning to get a 30-inch one soon,” he says.
At 75, Kapoor is satisfied with what life has given him. Having survived several illnesses, he smiles as he says, “Both my kidneys have collapsed. I am on dialysis.”
As I get ready to leave, he holds my hands and peers into my eyes, a benign smile lighting up his face. I want to say, “Get well soon”. He winks at me, as if to say, “I know”.
In the time I spent with him, I could sense the energy, the passion and the intensity that made Shammi Kapoor the star he was, and still is. May he yahoo for many more years to come!
By Moni Bhushan
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment