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Shone in the West, sparkled in the East

Think cinema. Envision actors. Shashi Kapoor is one name that won’t instantaneously flash on your mind. A fine actor and a handsome man, his toothy smile might have floored his onscreen heroines, but Shashi has not quite been the rage or the sensation people have been dying to know.

Shone in the West, sparkled in the East

Shashi Kapoor was the original crossover star. He was seen in Heat and Dust, The Householder, Shakespearewallah



Nonika singh

Think cinema. Envision actors. Shashi Kapoor is one name that won’t instantaneously flash on your mind. A fine actor and a handsome man, his toothy smile might have floored his onscreen heroines, but Shashi has not quite been the rage or the sensation people have been dying to know.

If that brings you to the question, then pray why a book on him, especially, when bigger stars have ruled Bollywood? Precisely why, the answer unfurls in many pages of the book.

Constructing the graph of a man without interviewing him even once can’t possibly be a writer’s delight. Yet, what could have been the book’s biggest undoing and Aseem Chhabra’s major handicap becomes a big plus if not the only strength of the book. For once, distance does lend objectivity. 

Absence of face-to-face interaction also impelled him to run the long distance, gather as much material as possible from as many sources as he could and put it all together dispassionately but not flaccidly. The net result is a richly substantiated book and an amply researched one that throws light on Dada Saheb Phalke award recipient Shashi Kapoor and his many glorious achievements.

After a brief introduction to his early life, his days in theatre with Shakespearean and his love affair with Jenifer Kendal, who would be his wife for 26 years, the book begins to dovetail his film journey. What a fascinating odyssey it is!

Today, we might be going gaga over the Hollywood exploits of Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, Chhabra reminds us unequivocally how Shashi Kapoor was the original crossover star. The actor of Merchant-Ivory productions like Heat and Dust, The Householder, Shakespeare Wallah et al, he was invariably the first choice of producers from the West. It was he who introduced Indian actors to the world in movies like Siddhartha. No wonder, he had many an admirer in the western world.

Chhabra weaves in an amusing incident as to how a bouquet and a lunch invitation extended to Shashi by the gorgeous Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida landed up at Madhur Jaffrey’s table. In fact, it’s this seasoning, peppering of the narrative with interesting tidbits and anecdotes that makes the book immensely readable and not merely a chronicle. Undeniably, it chronicles his filmography, step by step. One doubts if any film is left out. From his debut in Awaara as a 13-year-old boy to blockbusters like Sharmeelee, the trek moves from one peak to another, troughs are touched upon too. Simultaneously, we are offered glimpses of cinema and significant others of those times. The chapter Taxi brings us to the madding 1970s when he worked five shifts a day and shot for films like Satyam Shivam Sundaram (his elder brother Raj Kapoor’s dream venture) and Deewaar.  

Indeed, Deewaar is best known for Amitabh’s angst-driven angry young man. Once again, without employing any hyperboles, Chhabra states how without the calming reassuring portrayal by Shashi as the younger brother, the film would not have worked. Besides, who can forget his iconic dialogue: Mere pass ma hai?  

Amitabh and Shashi’s pairing which the author dubs Shashitabh saw them together in 14 films. To those who have all along believed that the duo were rivals and Shashi always got a short shrift, here is final confirmation that they are actually good friends. When Amitabh was a struggler, Shashi did recommend him to producers. In fact, in all of his home productions, Shashi tried his level best to have Amitabh on board. Only the mission succeeded rather late in Ajooba, the film that Shashi directed and flopped miserably.

As a producer, Shashi’s films may not have created box-office magic. But the book rightly puts on record his immense contribution as a filmmaker. Films such as Junoon and Kalyug are cinematic pleasures made more memorable by Shashi’s brilliant acting. And it is here that the book scores a perfect 10.  Effortlessly, it creates a wondrous arc of Shashi’s career. 

The actor of superhits, the crossover star, it also takes into account some of his eminently forgettable films. Moreover, it’s not just Chhabra who is critiquing his muse. Rather some of the most incisive quotes come from Shashi’s daughter Sanjana Kapoor. Even in films like In Custody, in which Shashi won plaudits, she is almost merciless in her assessment of her father. Of course, Shashi, the father, we don’t really get to meet, though we do get a sense that he always remained a conscientious provider for his family. Several comments from his children dot the book but mostly these reflect upon Shashi the professional and don’t provide great many insights into what truly makes Shashi tick. 

Yet, surprisingly the book that dwells more into his films endears you to Shashi the person too. Slowly and steadily you are enraptured by this man and actor called Shashi Kapoor, sans gossip, minus sensational trivia for which the author has a reasonable explanation; ‘Of what use is gossip at this stage of his life,’ there is no unnecessary idol worship either. 

Like the actor of many seasons and many decades, the book grows on you, leaving you with a feeling of great warmth and understanding of Shashi’s craft.  The biggest triumph, however, is that without saying so, in so many words, it underlines why a book on Shashi Kapoor was long overdue. And it has nothing to do with the fact that right now, the actor-producer is not in the best frame of health.   

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