Summary:
With the demise of Shashi Kapoor, an era has come to an end. An era of Prithviraj Kapoor, the doyen of Kapoor Khandan as fondly called while referring to this iconic family also called the first cine family of Bollywood.
The legacy that was passed on from Prithwiraj Kapoor to their sons Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor which they had passed on subsequently to the next generation of Kapoors.
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By Pallab Ghosh
With the demise of Shashi Kapoor, an eraa has come to an end. An era of Prithwiraj Kapoor, the doyen of Kapoor Khandan as fondly called while referring to this iconic family also called the first cine family of Bollywood.
The legacy that was passed on from Prithwiraj Kapoor to their sons Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor which they had passed on subsequently to the next generation of Kapoors but I am not going into the family tree or their contributions which is immense and still the process in on.
Like all the Kapoors, he too was fond of his elder brother Shammi Kapoor.
During one Film Festival when he had shared so many personal memories about his family, brothers and the cine industry.
It was during one such interview Shashi Kapoor had said for him, the ultimate romantic hero was elder brother Shammi Kapoor with his westernized looks and acting.
He had also said that "now watching my acting on screen, I feel ashamed as they look so childish" a confession from a real actor who was whimsical of his characters and perhaps this why Shashi Kapoor did not stay obsessed with the cult Commercial Cinema but acted in many parallel cinema and few experimental cinema (a wave that took cinema by its stride during early 70`s and late 80`s).
Shashi Kapoor and English films especially in British and American films, under the iconic Merchant Ivory productions run by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory that had been his second family as their association had grown stronger.
Shashi Kapoor acted in numerous films under the banner like The Householder (1963), Shakespeare Wallah (1965) (opposite his sister-in-law Felicity Kendal), Bombay Talkie (1970) and Heat and Dust (1982) in which he co-starred with his wife Jennifer Kendal, The Deceivers (1988) and Side Streets (1998).