{"id":3761,"date":"2016-03-05T22:42:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-05T17:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=3761"},"modified":"2016-03-05T22:42:31","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T17:12:31","slug":"shashi-kapoor-death-jab-jab-phool-khile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=3761","title":{"rendered":"Shashi Kapoor: The Man With the Crooked Smile Who Made Everything Better"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

W<\/span><\/p><\/div>

ho\u2019s your favourite <\/span>Kapoor<\/span><\/a>? I\u2019ve been asked that question a million times, and while most people struggle to answer (and for good reason), my response has been the same for over three decades now \u2013 Shashi Kapoor. Even a year after he left us, it always was and will be Shashi, the first man I truly fell in love with, and one of the only two actors whose demise made me feel as if a part of me was lost. <\/span>\n\nOn a terrible day, watching a Shashi Kapoor film is like <\/span>therapy<\/span><\/a>. Sometimes, even a song is enough: One viewing of \u201cBekhudi mein sanam\u201d is enough to pull me out of any bad mood that I may be in. <\/span>\n\nIf my parents are to be believed, I\u2019d happily clap along to \u201cEk tha gul aur ek thi bulbul\u201d from <\/span>Jab Jab Phool Khile<\/span><\/i>, even before I could string proper sentences together. It might have been because my nickname is Bulbul and I was just happy to hear someone sing it. As I grew older, I constantly watched the song, and before I knew it, I was crushing on the adorable boy with deep dimples and a smile so <\/span>charming <\/span><\/a>with teeth so crooked, that they could melt the coldest hearts. <\/span>\n\nYou know that feeling you get when you see someone you like? The slightly sweaty palms, flushed cheeks, borderline shortness of breath, and a racing <\/span>heart<\/span><\/a>? That is exactly what I experience whenever I see Shashi onscreen, even after all these years. Over the years, I pieced together my perfect man from snippets and bits of Shashi\u2019s film characters \u2013 and my husband now has very large shoes to fit in.<\/span>\n\n

Those who knew the man said that a part of him died with his wife, something that isn\u2019t difficult to believe when you see interviews of him talking of her as someone still alive and thriving.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nObviously, Shashi Kapoor\u2019s good looks played a massive part in contributing to this picture of <\/span>#HusbandGoals<\/span><\/a>: Right from the practical and fiercely independent Vijay Kumar in <\/span>Waqt<\/span><\/i> to <\/span>Kabhi Kabhie<\/span><\/i>\u2019s die-hard romantic Vijay Khanna; from the police officer with a romantic heart in <\/span>Suhaag <\/span><\/i>to the morally questionable and slightly shallow engineer in <\/span>Satyam Shivam Sundaram<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>\n\nBut perhaps the finest example of how Shashi Kapoor could lift a film with his mere presence is <\/span>Ijaazat<\/span><\/i><\/a>, where he only has a short, but brilliant, cameo. We are treated to a mature and very understanding man who has no qualms about the fact that his <\/span>wife <\/span><\/a>will probably always love her ex husband. And while I admit that some actions of Amar Kumar in <\/span>Kanyadaan<\/span><\/i> were questionable, and he doesn\u2019t really qualify as husband material, I am forever willing to overlook that because of the songs: \u201cLikhe jo khat tujhe\u201d and \u201cMeri zindagi mein aate\u201d are tied for the top spot, along with the most Shashi song ever, which everyone knows is \u201cTum bin jaaun kahan\u201d (<\/span>Pyar Ka Mausam<\/span><\/i>).<\/span>\n\nAs I grew older and read more, I realised that Shashi seemed, by all public accounts, an ideal real-life husband too \u2013 or at least far better than the other Kapoors proved to be, and despite the open rumours of his <\/span>alcoholism<\/span><\/a>. He married the English actress Jennifer Kendal at the young age of 20; she was older and the match was not easily accepted. The marriage didn\u2019t even last very long, because in 1984, she died from colon cancer. Those who knew the man said that a part of him died with his wife, something that isn\u2019t difficult to believe when you see subsequent interviews of him where he talks of her as someone still alive and thriving. He never remarried.<\/span>\n\nNo wonder that his onscreen romantic persona resembled his life so closely and made young <\/span>girls <\/span><\/a>like me \u2013 three generations apart \u2013 fall irrevocably in love with them.<\/span>\n\nOn this day, last year, I remember following the news very closely, hoping against hope that Shashi Kapoor would return safe from his latest bout in hospital. That didn\u2019t happen. It\u2019s now been a year to his <\/span>death<\/span><\/a>. So today, I\u2019ll again be watching \u201cLikhe jo khat tujhe\u201d (<\/span>Kanyadaan<\/span><\/i>) on loop. That crooked smile might be gone \u2013 but it still makes everything better.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a terrible day, watching a Shashi Kapoor film is like therapy. Sometimes, even a song is enough: One viewing of \u201cBekhudi mein sanam\u201d is enough to pull me out of any bad mood that I may be in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":3762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3114],"tags":[141,546,7055,3845,7056],"class_list":["post-3761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bollywood","tag-bollywood","tag-films","tag-jab-jab-phool-khile","tag-kapoor","tag-shashi-kapoor"],"yoast_head":"\nShashi Kapoor: The Man With the Crooked Smile Who Made Everything Better<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On a terrible day, watching a Shashi Kapoor film is like therapy. 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