"S" for "Shammi Kapoor"

Many Veteran Actors hold big names in the industry . Many are recognized only due to their family surname be it a Khanna , Khan or a Kapoor but there are very few people who really bring glory to the surname or to the work they do. One such name which can definitely be engraved in golden letters in the history of Hindi Cinema is Shammi Kapoor!  The unique style, flamboyance, the vibrancy, the instant happiness / sadness his songs bring are all enthralling. It is not just tough but impossible to say that this one movie/ song is HIS BEST.  There are many songs which come in the BEST list and which can immediately lift your mood. Be it “YAHOOOOOO Chaahe Koi mujhe jungle kahe kehne do ji kehta rahe” … “ Aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche har zubaan par”  or - “O haseena zulfon waali Jaane jahaan “…. “ Taareef Karun kya uski Jisne tumhe banayaa” or  “Tumne mujhe dekha hoke bekaraar”, there are too many which get appended to this list. Dil ke jharoke me Tujhko Bithaakar is my all time favourite.

Here I have to share a memory with you all. We all went to an industrial trip in my 3^rd year engineering. We booked rooms in Mysore. I don’t exactly remember the name but I guess it was Hotel Rajprakash . It was in a scarcely populated, very calm street with just an audio cassette shop and a super market adjacent to hotel and a small tiffin center opposite to it. After we roamed around Mysore and did some shopping, all were tired and sleeping in the evening. I can never sleep when there is still day light even if I am dead tired. My friends always wonder at this –They used to question, "How can you not sleep even when you are tired??"If and only if I am awake for 3-4 nights due to exams or partying or attending weddings/ functions I may sleep during day. So usually I am very bored when everyone else is taking a happy nap and my roomie was snoring too! I thought I would stroll around the hotel. I first went to the supermarket and bought shampoo sachets and other essentials and some biscuits and other junk food as they will come handy in journey. Then I went to the audio cassette shop. It was 2005 but I still had my Videocon Walkman then with me. I browsed through the rack of the cassettes. There were some 90s song collection , Lata mangeshkars collection and even Shahrukh khan too. That day my eyes fell only on one man “Shammi Kapoor” ! I found  2-3 cassettes with Shammi kapoor's collection on it - “O mere sona re sona re sona" clipping  flashed on one cassette” . “ Badan pe sitaare lapete huye” on another and the most beautiful Saira Banu was peeping through the third cassette.  She was damn gorgeous! I first thought to buy a book. Then I changed my plans and bought all the three cassettes. That was my first tryst with Shammi kapoor! Not exactly first but a proper tryst where I decided to listen to almost all of his songs during my tour. I used to watch most of his songs in “Rangoli” and “Chitrahaar”(These are the programs in Indian channel Door Darshan. I am thankful to the channel forever for these) .I had few in some old cassettes :: courtesy: Mom dad. But I never really had a collection. So I was excited about my purchases. I came back to my room. My roomies were wide awake and getting ready . They hurried me so that we could go and purchase some Mysore silk sarees and do any other shopping if possible. So I went with them.

After chit chatting and gossiping till late midnight we all dispersed to our rooms at around 1 -2 and every one almost immediately fell asleep as if they were put on sleeping drought (potion which induces sleep :P). I tilted and turned but couldn’t sleep. I was sleeping on a single bed window side and my three friends were sharing the master bed. Suddenly I heard a sharp wail on the road ! My heart was beating in my throat. I was worried thinking of ghosts and criminals.  The wail became soft and then it was muffled. I felt it was coming from a place very near to hotel. I tried waking up my friend Krishna. She murmured something and said, “Please sleep! We gotta wake up early tomorrow." I called up 9. No one lifted. I again tried 333 or 555 some number for reception/ room service which was written on the phone.

Me: “Hello! Some woman is crying on the road.”

Receptionist: “It daily happens mam. She is some mad girl. You don’t worry!”

Me: “Are you sure?”

(I asked this as the wailing though was subdued was too continuous to avoid.)

R: “Yes mam ! We know her.” (In a groggy voice)

Me: “hmm OK.”

I had put down the receiver but was thinking about her. The crying continued for a while. I couldn’t sleep. It was 3AM. I took my walkman and had put Shammi kapoor's cassette in it. The songs started with "baar baar dekho hazaar baar dekho"“ badan pe sitaare lapete huye..o jaane tamanna kahaan jaarahe ho” followed by “Deewana hua baadal” …”Akele akele kahan jaa rahe ho” …” Kashmir ki kali hu mai mujhse na rootho babuji”……….”Tum ne mujhe dekha hokar bekaraar”……”Aaaja aaja mai hu pyar tera” and so on so forth. The way he dances like no one is watching him, the way he woos all the sweet / gorgeous girls with whom he acted made me smile. The vibrant, handsome, amazing Shammi was floating in front of my eyes that whole night! Then I guess it was quite dramatic when at around 4 AM when the song “ mai gaaooon tum sojaaoooo sukh sapnon me khojaao “ started playing in my walkie. I dozed off a bit hearing to that lullaby.I got up at 6:30 –7 when my room mate beat me hard saying , "it is your turn.Go get ready. We need to start in 1hr"!

I shouted “ aaja aaja mai hu pyar teraaaaa alllah allah Inkaaaaaar tera” and started clearing the clutter on my bed, dancing with the blanket and towel with tooth brush in my mouth.  My roomies looked at me as if I lost my brain overnight and they looked at each other understandably as they know my random emotions very well :P .They silently smirked to each other and one of my friends said,“It is ok. She will be fine in some time.”   BUT, NO! I was humming his songs throughout the tour at one place or the other. When I went to Brundavan gardens I sang badan pe sitaaaare lapete huye after seeing the musical fountain and sang Maine tujhe zara der me jaaaaaana when my friend was angry with me and told Tum se acha kaun hai when I liked some boy in the crowd and the fun continued till my friends also started singing them! The songs are really evergreen. I sang to my mom as and when I came back from the trip, " Hai na bolo bolo Kyu hai na bolo bolo .Pappa ko mummy se mummy ko papa se pyar haiii pyaar hai,"  When my mom laughed loud, I told “Shammi is so cute mom. I wish I get a man like him!"

Image source: here

Some of his noteworthy films are---Brahmchari , Kashmir ki kali , Rajkumar , Janwar ,  Teesri Manzil, An Evening In paris. I am sure these are only few which I can recollect as of now.

Shamsher Raj Kapoor is one of the finest actors Hindi film industry had ever produced.

Some facts which I came to know from a Cinematographer:  Shammi always wanted  Shankar Jaikishan and OP nayyar to do music for him. Once When RD burman was doing O haseena zulfon waali for him he was not happy/comfortable. Later he listened to him and agreed and then he went to Mohd Rafi and said I would be making this dance move in this particular line so make sure you sing accordingly! He never really needed a choreographer. Confidence comes with success and success comes with confidence. Both at times are very much interrelated and confidence of people like Shammi is very contagious!

The good looks, physique, fun and frolic aura he creates on screen , his play boyish nature , the foundation he laid for romance in Bollywood are all note worthy! I never knew I love him so much till his demise on  Aug 14 2011. He died at the age of 79 . I dreamt on the same night that there was some live concert and Shammi was playing piano for “Dil ke Jharoke me tujhko bithaakar yadon ko mai teri dulhan banakar rakhunga mai dil ke paas mat ho meri jaan udaas!!! :|” and I was taking pics in that huge auditorium! I always remember him as the same young Shammi with green twinkling eyes which can charm you. He is a cult. So many youngsters  dancing to his songs till date goes to prove this. Many young actors and movie makers pay tribute to him by copying his dance moves or by taking his name or using his song's lyrics in their own songs. He is still a YOUTH ICON who can evoke the kid in you!

 

one of his many evergreen songs from the movie Brahmachari

Source : Wiki Although nominated before, in 1968, he received the first Filmfare Best Actor award of his career for the film Bramhachari.He made a unique place for himself in the industry as he was the only dancing hero in Hindi Films from the late fifties till early seventies.Saira Banu said in an interview "At the time when Dilip sahab, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand ruled the industry, it was Shammi Kapoor who created a niche for himself with his unique dance moves. He used to say he didn't know how to dance but he would just listen to the music and feel it. He was the only 'dancing hero' at that time.He used to compose dancing steps by himself in the songs picturised on him and never needed a choreographer.This earned him the name of Elvis Presley of India. Nasir Hussain Aamir Khan's Uncle directed many movies for Shammi like Dil deke dekho and Teesri Manzil ! Shammi is attached to Aamir. Aamir stated that “Shammi is not Elvis presley of India. Elvis Presley is Shammi of America”:)

Long live Shammi !
This is my 19th post for  A to Z challenge 2014