Shammi Kapoor obituary

The dashing, debonair Indian actor Shammi Kapoor, who has died of renal failure aged 79, changed the face of Bollywood cinema with his first hit film, Tumsa Nahin Dekha (Never Seen Anyone Like You, 1957). The rock'n'roll-inspired movie turned the young actor into an overnight sensation and he continued to incorporate elements of western culture and fashion in his subsequent films. By dancing in the big musical numbers, the hip-swinging Kapoor bucked the Bollywood trend of a stationary hero. His boisterous sensuality and confidence made him irresistible to male and female fans and he became arguably the first male pin-up of the Indian subcontinent, a sort of "Indian Elvis". Kapoor was a member of one of Bollywood's most distinguished acting dynasties. The second son of the actor Prithviraj Kapoor, Shamsher Raj Kapoor was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) and grew up in the heart of India's fledgling film industry. His father had risen from relative poverty to become a respected film and theatre actor. Shamsher's brothers, Raj and Shashi, also became successful actors. Shamsher spent a major part of his childhood in Calcutta (now Kolkata) but was mostly educated in Mumbai, at St Joseph's Convent, Don Bosco school, New Era school and Ruia college. He joined his father's theatre company as a junior artist in 1948, and left four years later to pursue a career in cinema, with his name shortened to Shammi Kapoor. Instead of catapulting him to stardom, his debut film Jeevan Jyoti (Light of Life, 1953) faded without a trace. Over the next three years, his films continued to crash at the box office, despite Kapoor acting opposite some noted heroines. "After 20-odd films I was a nobody except the son of Prithviraj Kapoor," he said. The feisty young actor upped the stakes after he married, in 1955, the A-list actor Geeta Bali, with whom he had a son, Aditya Raj, the following year. Having responsibilities as a father, and being seen primarily as the husband of a famous film star, prompted Kapoor to change direction. He decided to model himself on a young American singer: Elvis Presley. Kapoor shaved off his moustache, cut his hair to get the ducktail style, acquired a rock'n'roll swagger, put on cool western clothes and gave it his all in Tumsa Nahin Dekha. "There was a lot of frustration that had been boiling up within me, so I went for broke. Either I had to make it in this picture or go to Assam and become a manager in some tea plantation because I was already the father of a son." For his 1959 hit Dil Deke Dekho (Give Me Your Heart and See), Kapoor persuaded the film's director to add an Indian version of the Paul Anka song Diana. "I became involved with every stage of the music," he said, "right from the conception to sitting with the lyricist and music director to the recording of the song." Kapoor consolidated his position as the number one youth icon in India with his first colour movie, Junglee (Wild, 1961), in which a rich man who has been serious all his life is taught how to love by a poor girl. His rebellious "yahoo" cry in the title song became iconic and was forever associated with him. The film co-starred Saira Banu, one of several Bollywood debutantes whom Kapoor starred alongside and who became major actors in their own right. In 1961, Kapoor and Bali had a daughter, Kanchan. Four years later, Bali died of smallpox at the age of 35. Kapoor described the subsequent period as the worst of his life. Although he continued to appear in films, and won his first major acting award, in 1968, for Brahmachari (Celibate), he lost interest in work. In 1969, he married Neela Devi Gohil from the former royal family of Bhav- nagar in Gujarat. He embraced spirituality, retired from being a leading man and made his directorial debut with Manoranjan (Entertainment, 1974). Kapoor made the transition to character actor and won the Filmfare award for his performance in Vidhaata (The Creator, 1983). He slowed down significantly in the 1980s and 1990s, and was given a Filmfare lifetime achievement award in 1995. Although he had the aura of a king, Kapoor was a fun-loving individual who found pleasure in simple things. In later life, he embraced the internet, ran his own website and kept in touch with fans on Twitter. He also remained committed to acting and despite having painful kidney dialysis came out of retirement to make a cameo in the forthcoming film Rockstar, which stars his nephew Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role. Looking back on his life, he said: "It has been a beautiful journey with different shapes and a lot of nice colours with certain shades of grey and the dark moment of black when I lost my first wife. But overall I am very grateful to God for the life he has given me." He is survived by Neela, Aditya and Kanchan. • Shamsher Raj Kapoor, actor, born 21 October 1931; died 14 August 2011