Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor who was born a Balbir Raj Prithviraj Kapoor on 18th March 1938 in the vibrant city of Kolkata who is an Indian film actor and a film producer. He has also become a film director and an assistant director in the Bollywood film industry.

He is a member of the Kapoor family which is a film dynasty in India's Bollywood cinema. He is the younger brother of actor Raj Kapoor and actress Shammi Kapoor, the son of actor Prithviraj Kapoor, the widower of Jennifer Kendal and is the father of actor Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, and Sanjana Kapoor.

He has acted in a huge number of Hindi films as well as in a few English language films. In the year 2011, he was honored with the Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India.

He is mainly remembered for a lot of hit Hindi films, including the ones he has starred in with great actor Amitabh Bachchan such as the film Deewar, Do Aur Do Paanch and Namak Halaal. He has also portrayed leading roles in a numerous number of British films that includes a number of Merchant Ivory productions such as Shakespeare-Wallah.

Debut Film Awards Career Shashi Kapoor is the name by which the star who is known to many people of India, is not his real name. Shashi Kapoor debuted in Bollywood industry as a child artist in the years of the early 1940s. He was seen in the film Aag in the year 1948 and Awaara in the year 1951 in which he played the younger version of actor Raj Kapoor and has also done a lot of mythological films. Awards 1965 - BFJA Award Best Actor, for Jab Jab Phool Khile 1975 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, for Deewar 1986 - National Film Awards for Best Actor, for New Delhi Times 1988 - BFJA Award Best Actor, for New Delhi Times 1994 - National Film Award - Special Jury Award Special Mention (Feature Film), for Muhafiz Shashi Kapoor started performing in films as a child in the years of the early 1940s by appearing in a number of mythological films. His very best known performances were in the film Aag in the year 1948 and Awaara in the year 1951 where he had played the younger childhood version of the characters that was played by his older brother actor Raj Kapoor. From the little age of four, Shashi had started performing in plays that was directed and produced by his own father Prithviraj Kapoor, while he travelled with Prithvi to Theatres. He has worked in 19 films as a child artist from the year 1944 to the year 1954. He got an amazing opportunity to work as an assistant director in the film titled Post Box 999 which was the debut film of Sunil Dutt and has worked as an assistant director to ace director Ravindra Dave in the film Guest House in the year 1959 which was again followed by films such as Dulha Dulhan, Shriman Satyawadi, where Raj Kapoor was the lead of the film. Shashi Kapoor made his debut as the leading man in the year 1961 with the film titled Dharmputra and later went on to appear in a total of 116 Hindi films as the main lead protagonist which also includes 63 films as a solo lead hero and 53 films, which was a multi star cast films, as well as in 22 films as a supporting actor and 5 special appearances in various popular films. He was a very popular elegant actor in Bollywood during the the years of 1960s, 1970s and also in the years of the mid 1980s. Shashi Kapoor's first known films in the language of Hindi are Dharmputra, Prem Patra, Char Diwari but were not commercially successful, so he started performing in English language films in the year 1963, including the films titled Householder and Shakespeare-Wallah which were much more successful. He was one of the India's first actors to go and act in international films. Actress Nanda, who was a well-known star of this time, signed 8 bollywood films with Shashi Kapoor all though his earlier Hindi films was not that successful, as she also believed that he could give good performances in the future. Their first film as a pair was the most critically acclaimed romantic film titled Char Diwari in the year 1961 and the other was Mehndi Lagi Mere Haath in the year 1962 but it did not work that well at the box office, while the rest of their movies were very successful at the box office. In the years of the 1960s Kapoor has acted in a number of romantic films opposite actress Nanda which also included Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain in the year 1965, Jab Jab Phool Khile in the year 1965, Neend Hamari Khwab Tumhare in the year 1966, Raja Saab in the year 1969 and Rootha Na Karo in the year 1970. In the years of 1990s in a press interview, Shashi Kapoor declared that Nanda was his favorite heroine and that he has regarded her as one of his guru. In an another interview, Nanda has stated that Shashi Kapoor was her favorite hero. He made his debut in films as a leading man in the year 1961 which was directed by Yash Chopra and was titled Dharmputra and went on and appeared in over a 100 films. He was a very popular elegant actor in the Bollywood during the years of 1960s, 1970s and the early 1980s with his most famous films includes Waqt in the year 1965, Jab Jab Phool Khile in the year 1965, Kanyadan in the year 1969, Haseena Maan Jayegi in the year 1968, Aa Gale Lag Jaa in the year 1973), Roti Kapda Aur Makan in the year 1974, Chor Machaye Shor in the year 1974, Deewaar in the year 1975, Kabhi Kabhie in the year 1976, Fakira in the year 1976, Trishul in the year 1978, Satyam Shivam Sundaram in the year 1978), Kaala Patthar in the year 1979, Suhaag in the year 1979, Shaan in the year 1980, Kranti in the year 1981 and Namak Halaal in the year 1982. His final and most recent film appearances was in the films Jinnah in the year 1998 which was a biopic of Mohammed Ali Jinnah in which he acted as the narrator and another Merchant-Ivory production film titled Side Streets in the year 1998. He is now retired from the film industry and does not appear in any film since.