When one thinks of the golden era of 1960s Bollywood, the name Shammi Kapoor instantly springs to mind. Alongside Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor helped shape the archetype of the quintessential Bombay cinema hero – stylish, full of energy, and effortlessly charismatic. With his inimitable dance moves and signature head bob, Shammi was a whirlwind of charm on screen. From Junglee to China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, Janwar, and the cult classic Teesri Manzil, Shammi Kapoor enjoyed a remarkable run of success. He was once a phenomenon, a box office magnet and a trendsetter. But as with every superstar, time brought change. Audiences shifted, the spotlight dimmed, and whispers about his fading relevance grew louder.
Veteran actor Ashish Vidyarthi, in a recent conversation with Siddharth Kannan, recalled a poignant encounter with Shammi Kapoor that stayed with him for years. The two met in Sharjah while Ashish was filming for his television series Dastaan. Shammi Kapoor was there with a producer for a different project. What followed was a candid moment of wisdom from the legend.
“Shammi ji mujhe bohot saal pehle ek cheez kahi thi. Dastaan kar ke ek serial karta tha Sharjah mein aur Shammi ji uss time par Chattan karne aaye thay producer ke saath. Ek din unhone mujhe aise hi ek seekh di ki, kaha: ‘Barkhurdar ek cheez yaad rakhna, industry ke log tumko pin marenge. Jab meri patang girne lagi toh logon ne mujhse kaha, ‘Kya hua Shammi ji, aajkal bheed kahaan hai?’ Toh maine unhe bola, ‘Barkhurdar, aaj kal woh Aashirwad (Rajesh Khanna bungalow) ke bahar hai’. (Shammi ji once told me something many years ago. I was doing a serial called Dastaan in Sharjah and he had come there with a producer for the shoot of Chattan. One day, out of the blue, he gave me a lesson. He said: ‘Son, remember one thing, people in this industry will prick your bubble. When my stardom began to wane, people came up to me and said, “What happened Shammi ji, where’s the crowd these days?” I told them, ‘Son, these days the crowd is outside Aashirwad’ (Rajesh Khanna’s bungalow).”
Ashish reflected on that moment, saying it left a lasting impression on him. “What he meant was that the people will leave you. The same people who were hyping you up will walk away someday, and you’ll be left alone. It was your destiny that was making you succeed, so it’s important that you celebrate that moment, but don’t think of it as perpetual.”
Shammi Kapoor, known as the “rebel star” of the 60s, gradually stepped away from leading roles as a new wave of cinema took over. By the early 70s, Rajesh Khanna had captured the imagination of the masses, only to be succeeded by the brooding intensity of Amitabh Bachchan’s “angry young man” persona. Interestingly, Shammi Kapoor shared the screen for the first time with Rajesh Khanna in Ramesh Sippy’s Andaz. Rajesh just had a special appearance in the film but his stardom took the film to another level.
