SHAMMI KAPOOR:

Wednesday July 19, 2006
Shammi Kapoor

"I danced from the heart"
Interviewed by Indu Mirani

Shammi Kapoor retired a long time back but he is always there, in our hearts and on TV. In a rare interview, he visits the past and recounts his experiences to Indu Mirani

How did things begin for you?
My first film was Jeevan Jyoti in 1952. I had just come from the theatre and I was offered to role in Mahesh Kalra's movie. He was the director and I was absolutely enchanted, delighted I'd say, absolutely dumbstruck because he was a very big name at that time. My brother had worked with him in Gopinath and Premnath had worked with him in Naujavan. It was just the right platform for a newcomer.

And do you remember your feelings when you had your first hit?
Absolutely, that is something I don't think I could ever, ever forget because it came to me after a very long time and I worked very hard for it. It was Tumsa Nahin Dekha, a simply superb movie. I had promised myself that if I didn't make it with this film I would leave the industry. I figured I could go away to Assam and settle down as a tea estate manager, riding on a horse with a flask of whisky in my back pocket, a whip in my hand, you know, but that unfortunately did not happen as the film became a big hit.

How many films down the line was that?
Maybe twenty... certainly 15-20. I don't quite remember. I could count though... Jeevan Jyoti, Thokar, Rail ka Dibba, Mirza Saibaan, Chor Bazaar, Laila Majnu, Shama Parwana, Hum Sab Chor Hain, Mehbooba, Tangewali, Mashaal, Coffee House, Coco Cola, oh my God, there are a lot.

Did this happen because nobody had tapped into your talent the right way?
I suppose the basic reason is people didn't quite get someone they could identify with. That happened with Tumsa Nahin Dekha.

You were very successful, a superstar for many years. Did that make you feel like God. Or did you feel humbled?
(Laughs) There's no trying to equate with God. It felt wonderful. It felt top of the world. I had worked very hard towards creating my own style and breaking through the barrier of the three top stars of the day, Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand. It was tough and when I succeeded, I smiled.

When you were this superstar, is there anything that you did personally or professionally that you regret now?
One regret that I do have is about my volume of work. I could have done much more. I had a couple of very fine offers, which at that time I did not think were right for me, but in retrospect I think I could have done a good job of them. They were with some very good makers, including B R Chopra, Chetan Anand and a lot of producers and directors down south. I could have done those, yes.

And on the personal front, is there anything that you regret?
If I've stepped on people's corns and hurt them I didn't mean to because I know it hurts a lot.

Is there anything that you did then that you feel good about even now?
I married Geeta Bali. That's one of the finest things I did because I was terribly in love with her, and she was in love with me. It produced two lovely children. Then I got married to Neela and that was one of the finest things that happened to me, because I needed that to happen to me at that time. What else? I served my parents, looked after them.

Tell me something about your love affair with Geeta Bali? What were the things that you did? How did you woo her?

She was a top actress at that time. We were working together in Coffee House but there was nothing on at that time. We didn't click because she was a star in her own way and I thought a hell of a lot of myself though I was a non entity. But things changed when we were shooting for Rangeen Ratein at Ranikhet in which she was doing a cameo. We were shooting outdoors, and within about 20 days, the heady combination of the deer, mountains, dew, rains, small little bridges, the landscape and long walks down the hill away from the shooting, worked their magic. A lot of things happened and I was under her spell.
Was she in love with you immediately?
It took her time but I think I struck a chord somewhere. I wooed her like mad, I wouldn't let her go. This was April, after May, June, July, in August we were married.

It took her five months to succumb to the famous Shammi Kapoor charm?
It wasn't one of those small flirtations. We were settling for a lifetime relationship. That takes time.

What would you call your defining film? Was it Tumsa Naheen Dekha?
That's where I took off from and I nurtured that style further in Dil Deke Dekho and others. Then there were Basant, Ujala, Singapore but I matured in Junglee. Junglee was the totality of all I could do.

You always had terrific songs. How did the dancing happen? Were they as excessively choreographed as they are today? Or was a lot of it your beat, your timing?
The rhythm had been dormant and inherent in me for a very long time. When I got the right music from O P Nayyar in Tumsa Naheen Dekha there was no stopping me. I never had a dance master and I have no pretensions of being a good dancer either, but I did something from my heart and that worked.

But when you were dancing with someone else there had to be some synchronisation.
I always managed to get across to the other person. I did some great numbers with Helen, like China Town and Teesri Manzil. Her steps would be choreographed by the dance master, I would see it and then I would synchronise my steps to hers. I did the same with Mumtaz in Aaaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charche in Brahmachari. They all had dance masters, I worked myself in.

You once said that you broke all your bones at various times doing all this.
Yes, I did. In one instance I was shooting for Raj Kumar in Ooty on top of an elephant and my feet got stuck in the rope round his neck. We were picturising Hum hain rajkumar, aage peeche, when suddenly the elephant slowly turned his head to see who this guy was sitting on him, calling himself a rajkumar and showing off. He kept on turning and turning making the rope tighter and tighter till suddenly I heard a crack. I was still singing, I had broken my cartilage and I was still singing, and that is how it started. In the process, over the years I kept on breaking my cartilages.

It probably didn't help that you also threw yourself on the floor all the time.
That's how I broke my bones.

Who were your favourite co- stars? Who were easy to work with who brought out the best in you?
Sharmila was easy to work with, Rajshri and Asha Parekh too. I had all new girls. They never had any qualms, they never made a fuss because they became stars later on.

And which are your favourite songs?
I was very fortunate. I got some lovely music, super music. They are all songs you are able to sing in the bathroom because the songs are basically good. Today, you don't sing in the bathroom because you don't have anything to sing to. I had lovely music from O P Nayyar, Shanker Jaikishan and others. I was very fortunate.

It's said that you were a tyrant and unless the song was approved by you, the music director couldn't okay it.
No, it's not like that. My involvement with the song was from the very beginning right from when the song situation in the film was decided to the lyrics and the music. It was not that I had the last word or something. Because of my involvement, they shared the whole situation with me and asked me if I liked the song, because I was going to do the song eventually. I was there all the time, right from the recording with Rafi sahib, telling Rafi sahib I would like him to do this or that. He helped me so many times, you can't imagine.

You have said that Rafi sahib helped you. Can you think of any specific song where he did?
There were lots of such moments. In Kashmir ki Kali there is this song Taarif karoon kya. We were picturising it on a boat. It's a wonderful song and at the end of it I wanted Rafi sahib to repeat the line five to six times. I wanted it to build up to a crescendo but Nayyar sahib was vehement, naheen bhai bahut lamba ho jayega, as it is it has come so many times, it starts getting boring and people will get up in the song. When he said no Rafi sahib said, I am going to sing the song and I don't feel bad about it. Eventually if you don't like it, you can cut it out, but if Shammi has something in his mind that he wants to do, let's give him a chance. He sang it the way I wanted him to, it was repeated not four or five times but seven or eight and it went up into a crescendo during which I jump into the water. When they saw the song, Nayyar sahib came and hugged me. They were thrilled with the end result.

Do you often think of the past?
Um, yes I have a past and it's nice to be nostalgic about it, I reminisce about things, the good things that I have done, the bad I shouldn't have. It's not that I live in the past, but it's nice to visit there and come back. Coming back is very important, because you have to live in the present.

Which days of the past do you relive the most?
It depends on what's happening to me at that particular time. Maybe I'm watching something on TV and it triggers off a memory.

When you see Junglee what do you remember?
There is a song in Junglee, Kashmir ki Kali hoon, which Saira Banu sings and I am running away from her. At a particular place, I fall down and skid into a nullah. I nearly broke my ribs, it was painful. It doesn't show in the shot, but it happened.

Then there is the song of mine in Evening in Paris. I was hanging from a helicopter and my God, my heart was in my mouth. I made a fool of myself by saying that I was going to sing it from the helicopter, and when the producer said, here is the helicopter, now let me see you go up and do it, it was tough because I was not a stuntman and I can't imagine myself hanging from there. But I did do it and as a matter of fact it came out so wonderfully well, it was a sort of an achievement. I couldn't hear any sound, I was about 200 feet up in the air and there was no sound, because of the chopper. They were just giving me the beat from the ground with a handkerchief, and I sang the song in the air and it was in perfect sync.

How would you like to remembered?
I did my two bits and I was good at it.

Do you see yourself in a lot of actors today?
I'd rather not comment on that.

If you could live one day of your life differently, which day would that be?
I wouldn't want Geeta to have died. She meant a lot to me. But then... you got to go... you got to go.


Why do we see so little of you now?
Do you see little? I don't see anything of me. I have retired. You are talking to a man who is twice a week on dialysis. I can't do any work now. I am quite incapacitated because of my ailment, but I am there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: asj,