About: Suave smiling Shammi

Shammi Kapoor breathe his last earlier today. He was my favourite hero. The songs from those movies which he starred are still remade ,redone and remixed again and again. He was perhaps the most handsome among all the movie actors across the ages who came to don the silver screen Hindi film world. He was suave and had lot of class, surely a gourmet if not a connoisseur. The songs from his movies were collector’s items. He was never to be choreographed, he was just told about the camera angles and he did his own stuff, did it pretty well. The characters he played were full of panache and gusto. He romanced the most glamorous heroines on the silver screen of his times from Vyjantimala, Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Saira Bano, Geeta Bali and so many others. He was reputed not to feature with the same here heroine more than once. 

Junglee, Janwar, Budtameez, Professor, Boyfriend, Raj Kumar, Prince, China Town, Teesri Manzil, An evening in Paris, Kashmir ki kalli, Bluff Master, Brahmachari These were some of the movies which he starred,most of them were musical hits and popular movies. His movies were so good,so easy to watch in the sense, there was no sleaze and nothing loud and unsavoury. The stories consists, boy meets girl, pop corm love stories, but romance changed for good once Shammi Kapoor touched fame. He teamed up Rajendra Nath, Mehmood, Tun tun and other leading comedians and comedy was a permanent fixture of his movies. Rafi lend his voice to most of Shammi’s songs and there was magic on screen. Pran often played the villan in many of those movies. He did thrillers apart from romanctic movies. There was a sense of intergue in many of his movies, lot of drama and thrill. He often played a character wanting to make a mark of his own,often the rebel but those movie were sans chaotic action. His sense of style and persona was hard to miss. He would portray characters that stood out from the character that other actors played in their movies. The other actors were busy doing melodramatic, emotional roles, while Shammi was playing a flamboyant, yet sensitive comic-romantic hero. No other hero could match him for style, jackets, caps, t-shirts etc. 

When it comes to romance people go on roof tops to sing and yell their stories. He did it better and crazier. He did it on roof tops, mountain slops (Yahoo!! – Junglee ), river banks (Lal chadi maidan khadi - ), Lakes (Deewana hua badal – Kashmir Kalli ), waterfalls ( An evening in Paris), boats (Kashmir ki Kalli),elephant back (Yahan ke hum hai Raj kumar – Rajkumar), helicopters (Aasman se aaya farishta – An evening in Paris), cars,trucks (Kashmir Kalli) pubs( Teesri Manzil) , while trekking (Deewana mujhsa nahi – Teesri Manzil). He did it all and did it wish class and style. The few songs out of these were outright to woo some more just to flirt.

Shammi Kapoor will remain my favourite actor of all times.