Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

One always finds throngs of humanity congregating at the abodes of the stars to celebrate the days of importance, be it the birthday or the anniversary of the stars that are in vogue. However, the stars, which have given this iconic image to the industry, tend to be forgotten if they decided to walk into the sunset as a matter of choice. Shammi Kapoor the original rebel star, who had rebellion written all along in his demeanor, has completed seventy six years yesterday, but there is hardly any remembrance to this star who represented youth, carefree style and enigma all rolled into one.

A career spanning from Black & White era to the coloured, he was a star who seemed to enjoy whatever he did. His unique style of dancing, which was patented by him, and still not followed by any one, was evident in KAALI TOPI LAL RUMAL in the song, Jhumta Mausam Mast mahina … along with Mala Sinha. It was his keen sense of music and keen understanding of the same, which led to many musical hits that he gave in his career. At a time when Kishore Kumar had become the voice of Dev Anand representing youth and urbanity, it was Mohammed Rafi who could attain the same with Shammi Kapoor and the kind of hits of effervescence that Mohammed Rafi had in his oeuvre was majorly owing to Shammi Kapoor.

Starting from the signature song of JUNGLEE, Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe, to Ehsan tera Hoga etc., all these songs added mystique to the persona of Shammi Kapoor. The flamboyance that comes to be associated with the music of Panchamda aka R D Burman owed majorly to his association with the films of Shammi Kapoor and the swan song of this association was TEESRI MANJIL, which is considered a milestone in all the manners. Shammi Kapoor was the star who could serenade with an Amita on the one hand and also Lalita Pawar on the other hand and his feat was not emulated subsequently. Could there be a super star that could dance wearing a blanket as a dress as he did in TUMSE ACHCHA KAUN HAI. Incidentally Shammi Kapoor also did not have the luxury of working with the big banners, but whichever films in which he enacted he made them super duper hits with his persona.

The greatness of Shammi Kapoor also lay in the fact that as the age started setting in, he slowly graduated to the character roles and as his switchover was within the time, it was a fantastic switchover. The second innings of Shammi Kapoor was as enriched as the first part, and it started with ANDAZ, which was the first super hit for Ramesh Sippy. At the time when Rajesh Khanna had already become a phenomenon it was Shammi Kapoor who could stand on equal footing with him. An innate quality of Shammi Kapoor was the ability to work in an effeminate manner with children; therefore in nearly all of his films children find an important role, and one often wonders whether this could be one of the reasons of the phenomenal popularity that Shammi Kapoor enjoyed. In his second innings the notable films included, ZAMEER, PARVARISH, VIDHATA etc., it was in his second innings that Kishore Kumar gave him a voice over in VIDHAATA in that famous song Saat Saheliyan Khadi Khadi.

He is one of the few persons from his generation who is tech-savvy to the extent of running a web site on his own and excited about the potential of technology. The original rebel, it was streak of rebel, which gave a new leaf of life to Hindi films, as he was an actor first who became the actor star owing to the fact that he never bothered about the mannerisms and never strived to maintain the image that he had built for himself.


Read / Post comments on this article