10 interesting facts about actor Shashi Kapoor

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Veteran actor Shashi Kapoor passed away at a Mumbai hospital Monday evening (Nov 4). He was 79.

His nephew and senior actor Randhir Kapoor confirmed the news.

Shashi Kapoor, who was confined to a wheelchair for years, was suffering from kidney ailment and was undergoing dialysis.

He was admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai as he was keeping unwell for the past few days. As per hospital authorities, he breathed his last around 5.20 pm.

Shashi Kapoor is survived by his three children – Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, and Sanjana Kapoor.

Here are 10 interesting facts about veteran actor Shashi Kapoor:

1. Kapoor always tried to pick dates for outdoor shoots that matched with school holiday dates of his children so that they too could accompany him.

That way, the veteran actor made sure he spends quality time with his kids even when he was working!

2. Humble as he always were, his son Kunal Kapoor revealed that when Shashi Kapoor was told that he would be conferred Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India’s highest award in cinema, he just smiled a little. He was never a fan of awards.

3. It was Shashi Kapoor, who represented Bollywood fraternity, and put forward the demand for alternate housing for several slum-dwellers in Colaba to the then Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan.

4. Kapoor started his acting career at the age of 4. He used to act in several plays directed and produced by legendary actor Prithviraj Kapoor. He also acted as a child artist in 4 films.

5. He acted as a child artist with veteran actor Pran in ‘Sanskar’. Interestingly, later as he grew up and became a hero in Hindi films, Shashi Kapoor and Pran in as many as 9 films like ‘Shankar Dada’, ‘Apna Khoon’ and ‘Phaansi’.

6. He never wanted to run a commercial business. He had to put his money in theatres and films. He, along with his wife Jennifer Kapoor, built Prithvi Theatre, one of Mumbai’s best-known theatres, in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor.

7. Always caring for his co-artists, Shashi Kapoor even footed Shabana Azmi’s bills when she fell short on foreign exchange on her visit to Moscow Film Festival.

8. When Shashi Kapoor was making ‘Ajooba’ (1991), starring Amitabh Bachchan, he would roam around the sets with a stick in hand to check misbehaviour by the unit. However, he was too caring to use that.

9. Shashi Kapoor debuted as a hero in 1961 film ‘Dharmputra’. During his film career, he acted in 116 Hindi films. He was the solo lead in 61 films and supporting actor in 21. He did 55 multi-starrer films, and cameos in 7 films.

10. Shashi Kapoor met his wife Jennifer Kendal in Kolkata in 1956.

They were both working for their respective theatre groups at that time. Love struck and after initial opposition from the Kendals, the duo got married in 1958. However, Jennifer Kapoor succumbed to cancer in 1984 and that shattered Shashi Kapoor.

Big Wire

Pic credit: twitter.com/NFAIOfficial