Shammi Kapoor lost to Rajendra Kumar by a thumping majority of one that sunny morning in 1963, when a bunch of us decided upon the first-run Hamrahi rather than the umpteenth rerun of Ujala! (1959). I gloated my best I-told-you-so at my classmates as we all came out of the Lotus (or was it the Swastik?~time's taking its toll!), cursing that milksop of a movie and vowing never again to waste hard-earned pocket-money over a Rajendra Kumar feature! We caught up with Ujala a few weeks later and emerged from the theatre praising Shankar-Jaikishan, Raj Kumar and Shammi Kapoor (with Mala Sinha and Kum Kum supplying the oomph!)~in that order. The film was a rehash of any number of Hollywood crime films of that era, with Raj Kumar hamming the crime boss to the hilt! Immensely laughable at that or any age, but thrilling: and great black and white photography, as I recall, especially during the climactic sequence with Raj Kumar on the rooftops. They had a lot of fun doing that film with the fun loving Naresh Saigal (who had another hit that same year in Main Nashemein Hoon) as director. The Lata-Manna Dey duet 'jhoomta mausam mast mahina', set new records in popularity. Impossible to sing and difficult to emulate, it could only be mimicked. The song was written by Hasrat Jaipuri and literally reverberated elsewhere in the world because, from what YouTube tells me, even the Greeks were ecstatic over it.
He was not younger brother Shashi and certainly not older brother Raj Kapoor, but Shammi-saab was finally turning the corner away from the silly dramatic-role cloaks that he had heretofore donned. It took him a few years to find his niche from the undramatic entry he made into films with dramatic vehicles like Rail Ka Dibba (1953-opposite Madhubala), Laila Majnu (once again 1953 with the emerging Nutan), Shama Parwana (1954-opposite the then-fading but still beautiful Suraiya), Miss Cocacola (1955-opposite future wife Geeta Bali). And there were other films like Thokar (1953) and Chor Darwaza (1954)all of which, I am aware, were eminently forgettable. While I have only billboard memories of all these films, I do recall viewing at least a badly-mutilated print of Laila Majnu and an intact copy of Shama-Parwana. Bad films both but colossal music by the great Ghulam Mohammad in the first and the equally great Husnlal-Bhagatram in the second.
A startling clip has surfaced on YouTube of a Talat song that we have loved down the years. The solo was originally intended for the moody-brooding Laila Majnu but for one of those inexplicable reasons that often put a song out of context, was removed from that film and appended to Chor Darwaza. And I say startling because what is essentially a reflective musing on tormented love (what else!) has been picturised upon a smiling Shammi Kapoor flirting with a stoic, stony-faced Sumitra Devi! Either a different mood or a different song was definitely called for here, unless I'm missing director Prakash Arora's intent. It should have remained, more logically, with Laila Majnu. Shammi is close to a laugh-burst and the only reason I have included the track here is because the penning of it by Shakeel Badayuni is so intense and memorable.
But that period was coming to an end, as I have stated, with Nasir Hussain's Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) roaring in and sowing the seeds of the 'Yahoo!' image that we came to associate with Shammi Kapoor. It was the turning point in his career and Shammi Kapoor never looked back for at least a decade and a half after that. His costar in the film was the very coy Ameeta who also, with this vehicle, came out into the mainstream of Hindi films. The songs in the film composed by the legendary OP Nayyar placed Shammi Kapoor on the map with the young crowd, although the older generation still shunned OP's compositions as being too 'unIndian'. But Shammi was ready to go and go he did....and there was no restraining him...watch him mouth Sahir Ludhianvi's exuberant....Yun to humne lakh haseen dekhe hain...
The next big hit was Dil Deke Dekho (1959)again directed by Nasir Hussain but the film did more for Asha Parekh and Usha Khanna than it did for Shammi Kapoor. The first debuted as leading lady while the second debuted as a music composer of note although where she went over the years is a different story. One must note, though, that she was only the second female music director in films, after Saraswati Devi of the 1930s/40s. There are great vocals by Mohammad Rafi and Asha Bhonsle on the tracks of this film, with one especially standing out as a blend of rural folksy in the first half and beat in the tandem. Here it is, penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri.
There came a slump in his career with nondescript films like Mujrim and Boyfriend and China Town (a double role, here), which despite fine music by OP Nayyar in the first and Shankar-Jaikishan in the other, and Ravi in the third did nothing much to boost Shammi's career until.....
.....producer-director Subodh Mukerji came in with 'Junglee' (1961), to place the final, finishing brush stroke to the 'Yahoo' image begun in Tumsa Nahin Dekha, four years earlier. The film was a maddening success and I say maddening because Shammi was falling all over Saira Banu (in her debut) when he was not all over himself as he played the spoiled, eccentric millionaire who finds love in the arms of a simple mountain belle. Colour was still spell bindingly new to the industry in 1961 and the only aspect of the song better than the Kashmir visuals, was the unbridled Mohammad Rafi, singing a much-derided Shankar-Jaikishan number penned by Shailendra. It is probably one of filmdom's best kept secrets that a lot of us still do not know who yelled the reverberating 'Yahoo' into the mountains!
Once when I was in Bombay I read an article written by Shammi Kapoor and something he said in it made me pen an email to him and I told him that the only better films than Junglee were 'Professor' (1962) and Manoranjan a fine adaptation of Irma La Douce which was released in 1971 (I think) after a 10-year wait in the cans. I was surpised when he actually wrote back to me explaining the delay in the release of Manoranjan.
To sit through a viewing of Professor is to understand one's helplessness in controlling an outburst of laughter in the movie house, long after a particular sequence has passed. It was a fine, hilarious role as Shammi Kapoor juggled the joint characters of the young lover (with Kalpana, another new find) and that of the old professor in his scenes with Lalita Pawar. His scenes with that old thespian are part of classic film lore~and so is the musical score, once again by Shankar-Jaikishan.
The movie went on to bag the FilmFare award for the best music of the year, with Rafi-saab, also walking away with the statuette for 'Ai Gulbadan'. Every song in the film is a classic from the joint batons of S-J setting to music the penmanship of Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri. 'Main Chali, main chali.....' the Shailendra-penned Lata-Rafi duet will, however, always remain my personal favourite, because the kind of day we see as the scene unfolds was exactly the kind of day I saw the film on with my buddies: bright blue with fleecy white clouds (sorry to bring myself in, like this). We don't see that kind of days anymore in Bombay.... And then there was Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) with composer OP Nayyar's creations the standout feature in a mediocre movie, whose only other significance was the introduction into Hindi films of the very young and talented Sharmila Tagore. The songs, especially the two Asha-Rafi inspired duets penned by the immortal SH Bihari 'Isharon, isharonemein dil lenewale' and 'diwana hua badal....' , were lyrically picturised by Shakti Samanta. It was the music that saved the day and made the film a runaway hit.....
...until 1965 came along and death claimed Geeta Bali his wife of 10 years. And we know he was never the same again, despite a remarriage. Teesri Manzil was released in this same year during which we saw Asha Bhonsle taking her first tentative steps away from OP Nayyar and moving towards RD Burman whom she later was to marry. This film, again, was more a comeback vehicle for Premnath from yester years (who donned the mantle of the 'bad' guy and went on to do some fine roles in the process) but more importantly it set RD Burman firmly in the saddle as a brilliant and innovative composer very much like his father, the immortal SD Burman.
The movie paired Shammi Kapoor with Asha Parekh and will always be remembered for Premnath's evil-as-evil-can be character but moreso, as I have stated, for RDB's unique music sounds, the likes of which had never been heard until then. He was the last of the three acknowledged mavericks in Hindi film music after Shankar-Jaikishan and Chitalkar Ramchandra during their heyday in the late 1940s. Once one gets past the first 40 seconds of verbalizing on this fine composition, the magic becomes inescapable.
Well, the times were a-changing: we still had a couple of more years of the film industry as we knew it: but slowly and surely it was moving towards becoming 'Bollywood' a term concocted by Nasir Hussain in 1971, symbolising the change in generation and the setting-in of a deplorable trend in film-making that does not seem to let up.
This was not the end of Shammi Kapoor's career, though. He had a few more films left among them the eminently forgettable Brahmachari and Latt Saheb and Prince and Janwar and Tumse Acchha Kaun Hai which do not deserve space here or anywhere else, although Pagla Kahin Ka and the long delayed Manoranjan did reveal his flair for genuine humour. In fact, Manoranjan marked a new phase in his career~that of a character artist and he did some good ones all through the 80s.
So, where does he stand? Right at the top? No, not as long as one has evergreen memories of his brother, the eloquent Raj Kapoor. But he will always be remembered as a performer who brought joy to the middleclass with his shenanigan's and gyrations and fisticuffs, although the better (sic!) class of filmgoers did not care much for him or his movies. He had a charm all his own: and he could be funny, without being vulgar like others I could name. Like Dev Anand it was difficult to watch him do serious roles. But, also like Dev Anand, he 'sang' any number of good, nay great, songs for us and that's what we went to the movies for in those days and at that age, anyway....
R.I.P.
So what did he say re the delayed release of Manoranjan? If you said it in code, I missed it.
ReplyDelete-Bhadrayu
Kersi
ReplyDeleteAfter having succeeded in uploading my response to your article on Mukesh, I am moving backwards. Here is my response to the earlier article on Shammi Kapoor, in parts:
Part I
Your musings on Shammi Kapoor make excellent reading as always. He was the favourite of all of us, me and almost all my school buddies. Funny that you make a mention of Rajendra Kumar (will refer to him as RK hereafter vs SK for Shammi) at the very beginning of your article. Among my school friends, we too had one chap who preferred RK over SK while the rest of us were all diehard SK fans (followed by Dev Anand and not RK) and there always was a fierce argument amongst us about the merits / demerits of the acting, looks, haistyle, mannerisms, tantrums and even the shirt-collar and the cap (RK's cap in Aas Ka Panchhi versus SK's in Professor) of these two hugely popular stars of 60s. While RK was the proclaimed Jubilee star, due to silver jubilee hits that many of his movies were, we went a step further and coined SK as the Golden Jubilee star, albeit rather unfairly as it seems from the hindsight, as only Junglee was a golden jubilee hit, Professor, Kashmir Ki Kali and Teesri Manzil, being silver jubilee hits like many of the RK movies. I remember when Sangam was released, which incidentaly was a golden jubilee hit, it caused quite a stir in our class room as we all dubbed RK as a supporting actor, something that SK never was in 60s, to the chagrin of the lone ranger in our class, the RK fan. Poor fellow was close to tears.
At the beginning of 60s, Shammi was a contrast to the rest of the leading men of the industry. The rebel star, as he was dubbed, did invite a lot of ridicule from serious movie buffs and was also accused of degenerating the Hindi movie industry in to a theatre of absurd, much like his favourite music composer duo was derided for the noise they brought in to the melodious and the sublime music that reverberated in the movie halls of India till then (pardon me if I have touched a raw nerve somewhere). But who could argue with the box office. The producers (and their financiers) cared less and less and eventually SK lorded over everyone else in the industry. As they say, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Shammi inspired a whole generation of stars, from Joy Mukherjee and Biswajeet to Jeetendra and Mithun Chakravarty, and was the original phenomenon in Hindi cinema till the other phenomenon, or rather two of them - Rajesh Khanna briefly, and later Amitabh Bachchan took over.
Part II
ReplyDeleteAs regards his earlier period, what struck me most was the fact that although his movies were pretty ordinary and not quite successful till the blockbuster Tumsa Nahi Dekha, most of his movies had great music. You have rightly referred to Laila Majnu, Shama Parwana and Chor Bazar (I couldn't agree with you more about that great composition which has literally been butchered with its crazy picturisation in Chor Bazar) and Miss Coca Cola. To this I would like to add Jeevan Jyoti (there is always a debate as to which, between Jeevan Jyoti and Rail Ka Dibba, was his first movie. My understanding is that he signed Jeevan Jyoti first but Rail Ka Dibba was released earlier), Thokar, Mehbooba, Naqaab, Sipah Salar, Mem Saheb and Rangeen Raatein. A noticeable aspect of this early phase of SK was that both Rafi and Talat Mahmood lent voice to him on the screen but most of his popular and better remembered songs were sung by Talat Mahmood, चल दिया कारवां, आसमां वाले तेरी दुनिया से दिल घबरा गया, अय ग़म-ए-दिल क्या करूं, तेरा ख्याल दिल को सत्ताये तो क्या करें, अजी हम को है तुम से प्यार, तेरे दर पे आया हूँ फ़र्याद लेकर, हमारी गली आना and the one that I adore कहता है दिल तुम हो मेरे लिए (must make a mention of the stunning Meena Kumari, his co-star in the song. She is so bubbly, so ravishing, quite different from her later day tragedy queen image). The other popular song picturised on him in that period, झुका झुका के निगाहें मिलाए जाते हैं was ironically sung by Mukesh. Shama Parwana was one exception with its popular numbers तूने मेरा यार न मिलाया and the lovely duet with Suraiya बेक़रार है कोई आ मेरे दिलदार आ, both crooned by Rafi. Finally, it was Tumsa Nahi Dekha, which once for all settled the debate in favour of Rafi, who by then had developed a special vocal chord, exclusively for Shammi (he also developed an exclusive one for Johny Walker and later one each for several other leading men of the industry) and remained his ghost voice everafter.
One more aspect aspect which I remember is that his heroines in those early movies were all stunning beauties, Madhubala, Shyma, Suraiya, Nalini Jaywant, Meena Kumari, Nutan, Mala Sinha, to name a few. The guy, tall and handsome, but an awkward geek in his early days, was distinctly fortunate in that respect. Later among all these beauties, he chose Geeta Bali to be his life partner and proposed to her on the sets of Miss Coca Cola, in which she was his heroine, who quickly accepted his proposal. What a pity that the print of this movie is not available. Would love to watch the two singing together, झुका झुका के निगाहें मिलाए जाते हैं. Shammi and Geeta had a successful marriage for 11 years, till Geeta tragically passed away at a young age of 36 after she contracted small pox in a village in Punjab while shooting for a movie based on Rajinder Singh Bedi's short story, Ek Chader Maili Si, in which Dharmendra was playing the male lead.
In Rangeen, Raatein produced in 1956, Geeta Bali insisted on a role for herself (and acted as Mala's brother throughout the movie, with no particular justification why she was casted as a male character in the movie). Whether it was one of those Kidar Sharma fads about unusual casting or whether she wanted to keep an eye on her newly wedded husband, while he and Mala were shooting in the distant Ranikhet, only God or Mala Sinha can tell. Anyway, to cap this particular phase of his career, I thought, Shammi gave glympsis of his future orientation in the industry with Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956) which was a reasonable success and preceded Tumsa Nahi Dekha. Although Nalini Jaywant stole the show in the movie, SK was no less impressive except that he had not yet changed his hairdo and the penciled moustache was still very much a part of his languid frame till he opted for a complete makeover with Tumsa Nahi Dekha.
Part III
ReplyDeleteWith his career going nowhere with a string of flops, Shammi undertook a course correction with maiden directorial venture of Nasir Hussain, Tumsa Nahi Dekha, released in 1957. Appearing clean shaven for the first time, Shammi invented his Yahoo image in the movie. In fact, the Yahoo cry is heard for the first time in Tumsa Nahi Dekha right at the beginning of the title song of the movie, यूँ तो हम ने लाख हसीं देखे हैं तुमसा नही देखा, heralding the arrival of the new youth icon. He repeated the Yahoo cry again in Nasir Hussain's second directorial venture two years later, Dil Deke Dekho, in one of the scenes in the movie.
Between Tumsa Nahi Dekha and Dil Deke Dekho, Shammi oscillated between some moderately successful and some outright mediocre movies, Mirza Sahiban (with Shyama), Mujrim (with Ragini), Raat Ke Rahi (with Jabeen) and Saahil (with Chitra), the one reasonable success being Ujala (with Mala Sinha). During this period, he also acted with with his wife Geeta Bali one last time in Mohar (barring his guest appearance in a Qawwali in Jab Se Tumhe Dekha Hai in which Geeta Bali starred opposite Pradeep Kumar). Neither the charismatic Shammi - Geeta pair nor a brilliant musical score by Madan Mohan could prevent Mohar from being a box office disaster.
Post Dil Deke Dekho too Shammi had a few reasonably successful movies, Singapore (with Padmini), Basant (with Nutan) and College Girl ( with Vyjyantimala), all released in 1960. Although not quite roaring hits, they, nevertheless, cemented Shammi's position as the dashing young star wooing and running aroud beautiful damsels on the screen. From late 50s till mid-60s, the college girls all over the country, and I dare say, many young married women as well, swooned over him. Who can blame them for he was soooooo handsome, so dashing, so romantic, so adorable, the ultimate blue eyed Greek God of Hindi cinema (hope his elder brother Raj, the other blue eyed philanderer, doesn't mind my saying so). Having seen many of the male lead artistes in Hindi film industry between 1930s and 1960s, and posters / pictures of those from the later era, I have no hesitation in proclaiming SK as the most handsome male actor ever to adorn the Hindi cinema screen in its 80 year history (ignoring the silent movie period of which I know very less). The two that, I believe, came close to him, were his own father, Prithviraj Kapoor in his younger days (watch Sikander released in 1941) and the debonair Motilal in his earlier days.
Part IV
ReplyDeleteWith Dil Dekhe, Shammi set up a new trend, starring opposite a new comer, Asha Parekh in this case, and the film going on to become a huge hit. He followed this with Junglee (Saira Banu), Professor (Kalpana) and Kashmir Ki Kali (Sharmila Tagore). earlier in Jeevan Jyoti too, Chand Usmani, a fine actress in her own right and later wasted in side / character roles, made her debut with Shammi Kapoor. The foot tapping songs of Dil Deke Dekho, created by the debut making Usha Khanna, surpassed even those of Tumsa Nahi Dekha in popularity. Usha Khanna, a rarity in Hindi Cinema, being a female music director, followed the tradition of Saraswati Devi (Khorshed Minocher Homji in real life) and Jaddan Bai, mother of Nargis, who both composed music for Hindi movies in 1930s / 40s. Amirbai Karnatki was another female, predominantly a singer and an actress, who composed music for a Hindi movie, Shehnaz, in 1948.
Junglee, released in 1961, gave Shammi a permanent seal to his Yahoo image, with a considerable support from his screen voice Rafi and the musical duo of Shankar Jaikishin who came up with the rip roaring चाहे कोई मुझे जंगली कहे and somewhat silly अईयईया सुकू सुकू. It was Prayag Raj, the assistant director to Subodh Mukherjee, who actually mouthed the Yahoo cry in the title song. As a child, I was thrilled to watch the movie and absolutely adored its songs. Junglee ran for more than 50 weeks in several theatres all over India. I recall one of my school mates watching the movie 27 times over a one year period. Quite predictably he failed to pass the final exam and got demoted in the process. Wonder what opinion his father must have carried about SK. Oblivious to this all, SK became the rage and all his releases over the next few years were a must watch for the cinema audiences all over the country, barring the serious movie buffs and the audiences from the older generation, who couldn't stand his kind of cinema. As a child, I belonged to the former category, ready to take on anyone who dared to say anything against my favourite star or critisize any of his movies / songs. Much later, after getting over the adolescent infatuation, fast developing discerning ears of mine discovered the sound of the sublime music of the earlier era. Today I am no more enamoured of the cacophony that was introduced to Hindi film music in the form of those two particular songs in Junglee. Nevertheless एहसान तेरा होगा मुझ पर still remains a favourite.
Among the movies that followd Junglee, I thought he was far more accomplished in Professor, in that amazing dual role which you have rightly emphasised, than his most other movies. This was possibly the best role that he enacted in his 18 year career as the leading man in Hindi movies even though Filmfare chose him as the best actor for his role in Brahmachari. Boy Friend, China Town, Bluff Master et all continued the Shammi tradition of roles backed by memorable melodies. Boy Friend, along with Half Ticket, was the last of the movies completed by Madhubala while she could still work. For a change Shammi looked intense in सलाम आप कि मीठी नज़र को सलाम while the abiding memory from China Town is the evergreen बार बार देखो हज़ार बार देखो. Kalyanji Anandji used 3 voices for Shammi in Bluff Master but it was Rafi's गोविंदा आला रे that immortalised both the actor and the singer. Several stars, including the great Amitabh Bachchan tried to recreate the Govinda magic in their own style in syubsequent years. None could hold a candle to Shammi's Govinda. The song will remain etched in the memory of each and every Indian as long as the दही हांडी tradition retains its hold during annual जन्माष्टमी celebrations.
Part V (Final part)
ReplyDeleteShammi's Junglee and Kashmir Ki Kali were among the first movies that brought the beauty of Kashmir alive on the cinema screens across India. The advent of the colour acted as a catalyst as all the producers and stars made a beeline for Kashmir to shoot their movies, specially the scenes involving romantic interludes and picturisation of songs. Boats on Dal lake, trees at Char Chinar, flower beds of Nishat and Shalimar gardens became the mandatory locales in all big budget Hindi movies. The stunning snow capped hilltops of Gulmurg too were brought in to a sharper focus for the first time when, after a snow storm, Shammi blows open the window of that small wooden house on of those peaks at Gulmurg and bursts out Yahoo in that memorable scene in Junglee. Kashmir owes so much to Shammi and to the Hindi film industry for spreading its fame far and wide.
It was sad to see that by mid 60s, the age difference between SK and his lady love in various movies was getting more and more pronounced, further compounded by the significant height difference between him and his petite heroines, Asha, Sharmila, Rajshree, Babita and Leena (Nutan in Latt Saheb and Vyjyantimala in Prince were the exceptions - possibly because they too were nearing the end of their respective glorious careers). The notorious Kapoor girth became visible for the first time in Teesri मंजिल, the gyrations of ओ हसीना जुल्फों वाली and आजा आजा मैं हूँ प्यार तेरा failing to hide it. It kept expanding with each passing year. To his credit, SK realised the futility of continuing as a leading man with the new breed of heroines sooner than most others and bowed out graciously, with quiet dignity after Andaz, Preetam, Jaane Anjaane and Jawan Mohabbat, all released in 1971. Thus came to end an era of energetic, wholesome entertainment in Hindi film industry, the like of which we have not seen since then and will never see again, not that I care.
His second coming as a director and support actor, beginning with Manoranjan in 1974, was perhaps not as noteworthy although I understand he gave several memorable performance in character roles in 70s and 80s. Anyway, having developed an aversion to anything related to Hindi Cinema of 1970s and beyond, I am not particularly well qualified to express any opinion on that phase of his career. But the fact that he became one of the pioneers for spreading the Internet revolution in India and the remarkable manner in which he bore a debilitating illness for such a long period in his later life, is a testimony to the strength of his character.
So long Shammi. As the reigning monatrch of Hindi cinema during our childhood and in our adolescence, the two best phases of our lives, you will remain, forever, etched in our collective memories. Be well wherever you are.
Pradeep