As Shashi Kapoor Gets Dadasaheb Phalke Award, A Look At Bollywood’s Charming Custodian

Coming from the prestigious Kapoor clan, it’s a little surprising to know that Shashi Kapoor is spectacularly modest. One expects the legend to have ‘airs’ or some artistic attitude and snobbery. But Shashi is, as they say, a refined gentleman – the sort they don’t make anymore. He once described himself a ‘lazy actor, going on to say that movies happened to him accidentally. “My coming into films,” he once wrote, “was kind of thrust upon me, not something I had wanted to do. Being thrust upon me, I did my duty and I worked.” Worked – now, that’s an unbelievably harsh understatement. The right word would be ‘Dedicated’, for Shashi dedicated his life and fortune on nurturing the love and art of cinema that he inherited from his father, Prithviraj Kapoor. Does the young generation even remember Shashi?

We who were the 90s kid always thought Shashi Kapoor as the benevolent samaritan, ethically scruple and the morally robust sidekick of the macho, anti-heroic, often Machiavellian angry young man Amitabh Bachchan. That was the base of Shashi Kapoor’s identity. An identity he carried most of his life. Yet there was another side of him. That of a solo hero who was magnanimous with his Bollywood ventures that his legendary elder brother Raj Kapoor called him a taxi who was ready to accommodate everyone, the person who gave his father’s dream a shape by giving the Prithvi theatre a home for which he acquired funds mainly through his association with Bollywood and also he was one of the first actors in India who went international with the Merchant-Ivory productions. He turned producer and contributed to the ever-growing Indian parallel cinema movement by producing several critically acclaimed movies where he also acted. It all seemed a fairy tale.

Shashi Kapoor whose mother used to call him Fluky for being born out of turn (“I was unplanned,” he once said) started as a child actor acting in his brother’s movies so it was natural for him to follow the footsteps of his father and two elder brothers, Raj and Shammi, and join Bollywood. But the decision took some time to become fruitful. Instant success was not achieved. His debut movie was Dharmputra (1961), a flop, which candidly explores the ideas of partition, Hindu-Muslim friendship and enmity and the identity crisis of the individual, ideas that are still extremely relevant. Shashi’s character, Dilip Rai, is born Muslim but is raised by a generous Hindu family. He grows up to become a Muslim hating, religious fundamentalist who on knowing the secret of this birth has to reflect back at the choices he made. Shashi’s performance in his debut was earnest but we were yet to see the greatness. Also, the extremely complex tone of the movie doomed it. The audience rejected a movie that didn’t comply with their traditional believes and customs, something that Bollywood suffers from even now.

Shashi when he started out also had to fight bad luck till rescued by actress Nanda with whom he gave a string of hits. When Shashi joined Bollywood the industry already had an extraordinary league of heroes like Dilip Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Dev Anand and not to mention his brothers Raj and Shammi. It was a tough fight but Shashi was resilient. When these stellar group became obscure then came the angry young man, Amitabh Bachchan who changed Bollywood, maybe for good. In this melee, Shashi never got a chance to become a superstar though we all will agree he was tremendously popular. He gelled with all the shifting terrains of Bollywood and not for once did he fade away from the public imagination.

Before Amol Palekar became famous for introducing the realism Bollywood lacked, it would be befitting to give that credit to Shashi Kapoor. He tried even if realism was hard to come by. Several of his films had the tone which later became more conspicuous with Amol Palekar’s movies. For example Pyar Kiye Jaa (1966), an outright farce can be easily related to Palekar’s Golmaal (1979). Though detractors will point out that Pyar Kiye Jaa was bereft of any nuances that we actually associate with Palekar’s movies. True. But the theme and the comedy of errors was easily a predecessor to Palekar and his common man stature. It is a difficult correlation but we have to admit some of the movies that Shashi Kapoor was part of portrayed him to be that simpleton for which Palekar became famous. The only problem was that it was more colourful, the willing suspense of disbelief still strong. Take the case of Jab Jab Phool Khilein. Kapoor’s role as that of a boat owner could have easily fitted in the Palekar universe though it was a regular Bollywood fare. But then that was Shashi Kapoor, charming his way without the botheration of anointing genres. Yes, it might definitely ruffle feathers but Kapoor’s performance does reflect what Palekar had to offer. Kapoor was mainstream. Palekar more arty. Yet they did have much more in common than we think.

Another feather in Shashi Kapoor’s cap was to become the part of Amitabh Bachchan’s Angry Young Man myth. Without his presence, the angry young man persona would have not captured the attention of the public. Kapoor’s place in this myth was that of the Old Bollywood, still traditional, trying to defy things but not crossing the line, not the anti-hero that Bachchan was to become. Hence the perfect foil to Bachchan’s Vijay. He was cool, charming and jovial. He was also in many ways the sacrificing brother. He was the brother who the mother always supports for he doesn’t break rules. He conforms. He is also the idealist. Maybe this is why Shashi still managed to hold on his own when the arrival of Bachchan broke several stars, mainly Rajesh Khanna. He was not merely the brother, the friend, the boss, the competitor or the enemy rather he was the conscience. In a scene in Do Aur Do Paanch, after hearing Shashi’s monologue Amitabh finally chooses to mend his ways. That was Shashi’s power. He was the catalyst. Also, the Dilip Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan starrer Shakti couldn’t come out of Shashi’s shadow entirely, though it was mainly about the father-son conflict but Shashi was omnipresent reminding us constantly of Deewar. Maybe this was why Jaya Bachchan called Shashi her souten because Big B spent more time with Shashi than Jaya.

The problem that Shashi faced that he was overshadowed in these Bachchan starrers. He was the second fiddle. Always. They belonged to Bachchan and not him but without the charm that he effused in the characters he played, these Bachchan starrers would not have been complete. He was the soul of the movies if not the heart. Even during the making of Ajooba somehow Bachchan hogged all the limelight since it was his twilight years. The movie was a colossal disappointment but years later as we re-visit the movie it has emerged as a cult favourite with Shashi praised for coming up with such an outrageous movie yet filled with several memorable characters. It is pity that Ajooba didn’t do well when it released. Amrish Puri’s Shaitan Jindabad was as cool as as Mogambo’s Khush Hua, if not better. Also, Ajooba was the befitting end to a partnership (many will disagree) between Bachchan and Shashi which was larger than life, grand and filled with every tropes of fantasy that only Bollywood could offer.

During the Bachchan onslaught, Shashi himself maintained a decent record. His solo hero roles were totally in contrast with Bachchan’s since Shashi mainly played a robin hood-esque bandit (Fakira) or the simple thief (Chori Mera Kaam) without the layered possibilities of the characters that Bachchan offered. That’s why it worked. Shashi could not have taken the Bachchan route. Hence he took a different path. In movies like Phaansi, Chor Machaye Shor, Chori Mera Kaam, Fakira, Salaakhen, Shankar Dada, Chor Sipahee we see him as somewhat the lesser Bachchan but definitely as the bigger Kapoor. His nephew had already made his debut and Rishi Kapoor too would go on to do what Shashi did fantastically i.e. prove to be an excellent sidekick to Bachchan.

Shashi Kapoor’s career is marked with another important phase. He was one of the first Indian actors who made it big internationally, acting in several acclaimed projects, mainly with the producer-director duo of Merchant-Ivory. This was also to satisfy the actor in him. The Householder (1963) was his first movie with Merchant-Ivory. The movie is something of an elongated sequence that carries on from where Dharmputra left. Shashi plays a harassed college professor, paired opposite Leela Naidu, trying to understand about love and life. The social pressure, the dominating mother, a wife who is often unforgiving, Shashi’s character easily syncs with the one he played in his debut. Yet, here it is not religion but domestic life and the challenge to bear with it. Shashi’s character moves from person to person looking for answers. The Householder is a charming tale, filled with some memorable characters but it is more in accord with Shashi’s real life where he was still trying to make a name for himself in Bollywood. Also, his romance and marriage with Jennifer Kendal is alluded subtly. His marriage was another reason why Shashi joined Bollywood, to provide for his young family. The theatre lover in him didn’t die for he used his association with Bollywood to get funds to start Prithvi Theatre and hence make his father’s dream come true. Not only that, he also started producing movies hiring the best of directors from the Indian Parallel movement and acted in them giving Indian cinema some of its finest cinema. It was totally unheard of a Bollywood actor indulging in the Indian Parallel Cinema movement, but Shashi did and did it with elan, actively taking part in it. Junoon, Kalyug, 36 Chowrongee Lane among others are some of the greatest Indian movies made and there was one man behind it- Shashi Kapoor.

Shashi’s love for theatre was that of legend. It was because of theatre he met his wife Jennifer Kendal and it was because of her support that he was able to give Prithvi Theatre a permanent home. Even now, as old age has struck him, he continues to watch plays in there, maybe reminiscing the old days and thinking about his wife whose premature death was a blow for him. As he said, he had let himself go after her death. It was true because we could see him less on screen. All his energy went on in preserving Prithvi Theatre. It was during his theatre days did he became acquainted with Jennifer. Though opposed by both sides of the family, it was with his brother Shammi and sister-in-law Gita Bali’s help did he manage to marry Jennifer who became his driving force. His children didn’t succeed in Bollywood. Kunal, Karan and Sanjana chose a different path. It was Sanjana who ran Prithvi till the year 2012.

Shashi during his last days in Bollywood restricted himself to character roles. He was there in Govinda’s debut Ilzam (1986) playing a father who is blinded by the love for his son. Mostly the roles he did were nothing notable. He was someone who lost his steam yet continued because he loved acting. It was rather strange to see him in Akayla where he plays Amitabh Bachchan’s boss. The movie itself was tremendously bad but the role Shashi kapoor played was caricaturish, his mannerism echoing Namak Halaal’s Raja Babu. Again, it was during this phase he gave us some memorable characters when he collaborated on the international scene. Be it Sammie and Rosie Got Laid, In Custody or Side Streets, the roles had something in common that he had finally managed to get rid of the ghosts of Bollywood that he always carried him and used them to satirize his stay in that world of gloss and glitter. It was in Side Streets he played a role that I believe made him most comfortable- a forgotten, overweight, grumpy star. It was again a necessary for in Muhafiz aka In Custody he plays the role of an Urdu poet (mouthing Faiz whose ardent admirer Shashi was/is in real life) once talented but now burdened by his own failures being pursued by an Urdu poetry fan for an interview. Side Streets was more personal than all his films and also marks the end of his illustrious career.

Shashi lacked the goofiness of his elder brother Raj and also the savvy attitude of his brother Shammi. What he had was charm, a face so innocent that one could easily depend on him. He was always the Mr. Dependable of Bollywood. Maybe that’s why he never got the Superstar title. He was the real householder of Bollywood, trying to maintain himself, trying to pursue his other hobbies while still managing his image as a Bollywood star. It was strange to see him never winning the Filmfare award for best actor even though in New Delhi Times, Shashi gave one of his best performances ever as the journalist trying to fight corruption. That was Shashi Kapoor. The actor. It did gain him a National Award for Best Actor but the black lady always eluded him though he did win it in the best supporting actor segment for Deewar. Another remarkable role in his career was that of Nihal Singh in Vijeta, a movie that he produced, where he played father to his son Kunal Kapoor. It was an intense role for the conflict between the father and the son was one the main themes in the movie. It remains as one of his most memorable roles. His sons and daughter were talented but somehow Bollywood couldn’t find a place for them.

Shashi Kapoor for us will always be an actor first, a star later. Maybe he hated the word. Maybe he simply wanted to act be it anything, regular Bollywood projects or art movies. He did international projects, he helped the Indian parallel cinema, he built a theatre as his dream was to fulfil his father’s last wish. Somehow, in all this chaos he seemed like Karan Singh from Kalyug, the grim, brooding man with that sad smile when he realized he would always be trapped in this chakravuyh. It is not difficult to say that Bollywood and the audience accepted him but it would always remain a mystery if he accepted Bollywood.

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