A fan’s tribute to Shammi Kapoor

Everyone who knows me knows that I adore Shammi and have for as long as I can remember. When one of my friends called me up at 1 AM on the 13^th (me being in Atlanta right now) to condole Shammi Kapoor’s death, both he & I were equally shocked that I had not checked news for a while and had completely missed this! It did take a while for this news to sink in and when it did, it bought back a ton of memories.

It took me a couple of days to get started on a tribute since it was difficult for me to fathom he is no longer there. But it was just natural that I pen a tribute to my all-time favorite actor (he has been 1 to 10 on my list), who was in more ways than one responsible for my interest in Hindi movies. This one is very personal!

For a kid growing up in 80’s South India (Dharwad, Karnataka) where hearing Hindi was not really a daily occurrence, well before the whole cable and internet revolution and more importantly more than 15 years since he retired from lead roles (his last lead role was 1971’s Andaz),  I have no idea when I started liking him!! I can only hazard a guess on the why & how.

I do remember one of my mother’s uncles (a huge Shankar-Jaikishen fan) getting video cassettes of any movie with SJ music for weekend watches whenever he visited us. We kids obviously watched all of those movies. Great foot tapping music coupled with Shammi’s moves in light romantic movies laced with clean humor (great cast helped too), which might have sparked an interest in him. After all when compared to other heroes of that era i.e. Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Bharat Bhushan or Pradeep Kumar; it seems a no-brainer now. Movies like Junglee, Janwar, Rajkumar, Brahmachari, Kashmir Ki Kali, Bluffmaster, Singapore & Prince became childhood staples.

Once my folks realized my growing interest in Shammi birthday gifts started turning out to be video or audio cassettes of Shammi Hits! It became an integral part of my growing up and the biggest reason for me getting hooked onto Hindi movies. A set of 4 HMV cassette Golden Collection Shammi songs is still a prized possession.

He was always young at heart and bonded with youngsters. This shone through in his movies and his actions. Watching those songs with him in the frame is something else something refreshing. His zest for life oozes through and it gives such a joy which is indescribable. Even now, when I am in a bad mood, I switch on a song of his and viola I am good. Nothing beats “Taaref karoon”, “Yahoo”, “Suku Suku”, “Aaja Aaja”, “O Haseena Zulfonwali”, “Tumsa Nahin Dekha”, “Govinda Aala re”, “Baar Baar Dekho”, “Badan pe Sitare”, “Akele Akele”, “Diwana hua badal”, “Tumse Accha Kaun Hai”, “Lal chadi”, “Ae gulbadan”, “Aajkal tera mere pyar”, “Jhoomta Mausam”…actually all the 100+ songs in which he appeared even from obscure movies like Vallah Kya baat hai or Boyfriend!

As is known, he was a gizmo freak and one of the pioneers of internet usage in India. He used to personally respond back to birthday wishes through emails. One of my prized possessions is a mail he sent some years back. When I heard about him being serious and admitted to hospital back in Jan, I thought about making a trip to Mumbai the next time I am in India, which was to be in April 2011. Unfortunately that trip got postponed and now he is no more. I will have this regret of not meeting him personally forever!

As a star, just suffice to say that Hindi movies; might never have been as we know it now if not for Shammi. We might never have had heroes dancing anything but classical (like GopiKrishna before him). There have been a bunch of folks who have followed him and been known for dancing like Joy Mukherjee, Jeetendra, Mithun, Govinda, Hrithik Roshan etc but everyone bows to the pioneer.

Shammi started his career as a theatre artist in his father company and soon graduated to movies. He played a dour hero with long hair and moustache! He was just following what the leading lights of that time were known for and for a new comer that was death knell. I think the turning point was his marriage to the vivacious star of that time Geeta Bali in 1955. I think she succeeded in loosening his onscreen persona and after 16 flops in a row, a non-descript movie Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956), directed by comedian IS Johar, turned into an average success. His makeover was complete with his first big hit Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) which followed, made everyone take notice and when JUNGLEE (1961) made history a new superstar was born.

Like he has mentioned in his interviews, he first said Yahoo in Tumsa Nahin Dekha and then in Dil Deke Dekho (1958) but “Yahoo” in Junglee was what broke the mold of the Hindi film hero and movies were never the same again! So much so that when the internet company Yahoo opened their India office in Mumbai, Jerry Yang, the founder, invited Shammi to the occasion and they played the immortal song for his entrance!

I can quote trivia about Shammi all day long but that is for another time.

For critics of that time, the songs and dances overshadowed everything but he was a very underrated actor. When you peel through the songs and his antics, you could see a very sensitive actor. He was not just great in romantic scenes or comedy but in dramatic scenes as well. His comic timing and combination with Mehmood or Rajendranath was incredible. He has played a slew of characters like a prince, conman, college kid, murderer, warrior, doomed lover, helpless husband, freedom fighter, policeman, singer, driver, zamindar or tapori…if this is not versatility then…..

A veritable who’s who of Hindi films either made their debuts in movies in which he starred or worked with him in their initial set of movies before making it big (in fact in a lot of cases their movies with Shammi helped them make big). Below is a list of stars I can think from the top of my head -

Actresses like Ameeta, Asha Parekh, Saira Banu, Kalpana, Sharmila Tagore, Leena Chandavarkar, Hema Malini, Amrita Singh, Mandakini, Padmini Kohlapure, Aishwarya Rai

Actors like Rajendranath, Dharmendra, , Sanjeev Kumar, Vinod Khanna, Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol, Rajiv Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Shahrukh Khan 

Directors like Nasir Hussain, Manmohan Desai, Ramesh Sippy, Ravi Chopra, Rajiv Kapoor

Composers like Usha Khanna, RD Burman

How much he was liked and loved by everyone who knew him was evident when pretty much the whole of the Hindi film industry turned up to bid farewell to him.

A big thank you to all the friends and family, who sent me notes or called me to express condolence. Even college friends with whom I had not interacted for years now, remembered me at this time. It helped a lot. Thanks again!

Shammiji thanks for all the great times, you will always be with me!

~ Tally Ho