Shashi Kapoor's popularity wasn't limited to genres or specific audiences — he was a true-blue superstar

Cinema is perhaps the greatest illusion of them all and those who create cinema often need to be disillusioned before they are able to create everlasting illusions.

Unlike most of his tribe, Shashi Kapoor did not come across as someone who was disillusioned. In spite of his films — both the ones that he was an actor for hire or the ones that he went on to produce (a few of which could be counted amongst the greatest films ever made) — not doing well, Kapoor remained the same.

Kapoor’s health had been on the decline for a while now and he rarely interacted with the media or gave a sound byte even on the rare public appearances he would make — such as the one in 2015 when he was conferred with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award. The younger brother of Raj and Shammi Kapoor, and the youngest son of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor was one of the first Indians actors to find a footing in the west and ended up becoming the last of the true stars whose popularity was never limited to a particular genre, era or even specific group of audiences. With his death cinema has lost one of its greatest unsung exponents.

Born as Balbir Raj Kapoor in 1938, Shashi Kapoor acted in plays that his father, Prithviraj, produced as a part of his travelling group Prithvi Theatres. He gained popularity as a child artist when he played the younger version of his the character played by his brother, Raj Kapoor, in Aag (1948) and Awaara (1951). Kapoor made his debut as the leading man in Dharmputra (1961) that was directed by Yash Chopra, who would later go to do direct him in some of his best roles in Deewar (1975) and Kabhi Kabhie (1976) and it was also around this time that he began a long association with filmmaker James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant with The Householder (1963).

Through the 1960s Kapoor enjoyed commercial success in Hindi films and also global popularity with the Merchant-Ivory productions such as Shakespeare-Wallah (1965) that released in the same year as Waqt (1965) and his breakthrough hit as a solo lead, Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965). In fact, Kapoor went on to become not only one of the most successful but also the busiest stars across the 1960s and the 1970s where his brother Raj once chided him for being akin to a taxi that could be hailed by just about anyone!

What made Shashi Kapoor stand apart from the other stars was the manner in which he approached his work. He continued to pick up projects that would help him balance commercial Hindi film outings with ones that would inspire him as an actor – can you imagine anyone else doing Conrad Rooks’ Siddhartha (1971) and Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973) simultaneously? He and his wife, Jennifer Kendal, were passionate about theatre and went on to establish Prithvi Theatre in then Bombay in 1978 and it comes to be one of India’s most vibrant venue.

Hailing from a family where acting was in the genes it’s not surprising that Kapoor followed the tradition whether it was acting on stage or in front of the camera or even producing films. Most of the successful stars usually ended up getting into film production or distribution but when it came to such ventures Shashi Kapoor took things to a different level. He distributed Bobby (1973) more out of his respect for his elder brother Raj, who post-Mera Naam Joker (1971) was at the lowest ebb of his career but despite the film being a monstrous hit, Kapoor never really made any money off the success.

Similarly, when he took to producing films it was not the standard fare that he put his might behind. Beginning with Shyam Benegal’s Junoon (1979), Kapoor’s production house Film-Valas made a significant contribution in shaping the destiny of parallel cinema in India. Kapoor went on to produce Kalyug (1980), which was also directed by Shyam Benegal, Aparna Sen’s seminal 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), Govind Nihalani’s Vijeta (1982) and Girish Karnad’s Utsav (1984).

It is a well-documented fact that Kapoor never made any money from the films that he produced but that never stopped him from marching to the beat of his heart when it came to his craft. In 1991 he produced and directed Ajooba that featured Amitabh Bachchan along with Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Sonam and Amrish Puri as well as his elder brother, Shammi Kapoor, but the failure of super-hero fantasy permanently dented Kapoor, the producer, and director.

Shashi Kapoor formed great collaborations with a host of people right from Amitabh Bachchan (they did 12 films together including the classic Deewar where Kapoor delivered one of his performances), Hema Malini (10 films together), Sharmila Tagore (14 films including the classic New Delhi Times (1986) that also fetched Kapoor a National Award for Best Actor), Yash Chopra, who directed Kapoor in 7 films, Nanda (an established star who signed 8 films with the upstart Shashi Kapoor), Zeenat Aman (9 films) and James Ivory & Ismail Merchant, with whom he also did Bombay Talkie (1970), Heat and Dust, The Deceivers (1988), Side Streets (1998) and his last major role In Custody (1994).

His partnerships were not limited to just acting out the lines; had it not been for Kapoor’s restraint while portraying the ‘second-lead’ in films such as Deewar and Kabhi Kabie or the joie de vivre he infuses within his characters in Trishul or Kaala Patthar (1979) perhaps Amitabh Bachchan’s performances might not have resonated as much. In Deewar, Kapoor was the perfect parallel lead, a term that best described his role, and also walked away with many awards including a Filmfare for Best Supporting Actor while Bachchan was overlooked.

Kapoor was devastated by the death of his wife Jennifer Kendal in 1984 and many believed that he was not the same man after that. His body of work, too, reduced drastically after Jennifer’s death and in the last 33-years, one only saw the traces of what Kapoor was capable of as an actor in a handful of performances – New Delhi Times and In Custody.

Kapoor was much more than an immensely successful actor on both stage and film or a beloved star across continents or even a producer; he was a true craftsman whose influence on cinema is both inspiring and paradoxical at the same time. Kapoor epitomised modernity both on and off camera, in front of it and also behind it. He could be bountiful and moderate in his interpretation of characters, he could manage garish and tasteful with similar élan, he could do a film such as Fakira (1976) with a song like ‘Totaa mainaa ki kahaani to puraani puraani ho gayee’ and pitch in a New Delhi Times where he plays an honest journalist unable to navigate the corrupt system and the nexus between politicians and media barons.

There is already a process of rediscovering Kapoor’s body of work that extends beyond the charm with which he could melt hearts or the earnestness with which he said ‘Mere paas maa hai’ in Deewar. 

In years to come, his value as a visionary who produced the films that he blazed a trail would only get enhanced and rightfully so. John Cassavetes, the filmmaker who unknowingly ushered in the modern American film believed that to him film was unimportant but people were not. Much like Cassavetes, Shashi Kapoor, too, found people more engaging than films and what’s more, he was willing to risk everything to really express it all and managed to do that on more occasions than one credits him with.