Shammi Kapoor died on August 14, 2011.
Shammi Kapoor made his debut with the film Thokar in 1953. Except for this movie, which gained some praise, the actor’s flop streak continued for 18 films.
“Yahoo! Yahoo! chaahe koyi mujhe junglee kahe, kehne do jee kehta rahe”, these lines remind us of the ever-charming actor, the late Shammi Kapoor. October 21, 2023, marks his 92nd birth anniversary. It wasn’t easy for him to attain stardom even after being the son of Prithviraj Kapoor and brother of Raj Kapoor.
The “Yahoo Star” as he was called, Shammi Kapoor, embarked on his acting career with the film Thokar in 1953. Except for Thokar, which gained some praise from the moviegoers, Shammi Kapoor’s flop streak continued for 18 films. His acting career finally took a positive turn after the success of Tumsa Nahin Dekha written and directed by Nasir Hussain.
Ameeta, Pran Sikand, Raj Mehra and others also acted in this movie. According to late journalist Rauf Ahmed, Tumsa Nahin Dekha broke the image of a conventional film hero. He wrote that it also redefined the idea of a musical romance. Rauf is the writer of Shammi Kapoor’s biography Shammi Kapoor- The Game Changer.
Shammi Kapoor talked more about this film and his looks in it in an interview with Madhu Jain, the author of the book The Kapoors. The Kashmir Ki Kali actor said that he had copied the hairstyle of Christians living in Bandra. He would oil the hair, curl and puff it and just push it up. “My so-called new style seemed to appeal to the youth. I think I also made them aware of the fashion trends…The Beatles were in by then. Rock music was coming in…We had our own OP Nayyar with his beats.”
At that time, as Shammi Kapoor had recalled, there were no specialist choreographers for heroes. It is because they rarely danced in the real sense. Shammi Kapoor turned out to be an exception as he had a great sense of music and dance. He could improvise his body movements imaginatively.
On the personal front, Shammi Kapoor tied the knot with the actress Geeta Bali in 1955. His happiness was short-lived, as Geeta passed away in 1965 due to smallpox, which left the actor shattered. Later, on June 27, 1969, he tied the nuptial knot with Neila Devi secretly at his residence on Nepean Sea Road. Shammi Kapoor died on August 14, 2011.
