Shashi Kapoor

Shashi Kapoor,is an Indian film actor and producer and a member of the famous Kapoor family, an influential film dynasty in India's Bollywood cinema.His birth name was Balbir Raj Kapoor and was born on March 18, 1938 in Calcutta.

He is the younger brother of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor, the son of Prithviraj Kapoor, the husband of the late Jennifer Kendal, and the father of Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, and Sanjana Kapoor. Son Kunal is married to director Ramesh Sippy's daughter and Sanjana to wildlife conservationist Valmik Thapar.

Shashi Kapoor started acting in films as a child and his best known performances were in "Aag" (1948) and "Awaara" (1951) where he played the younger version of the characters played by his older brother Raj Kapoor.

He made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 Yash Chopra film "Dharmputra" and went onto appear in over 100 films.

He was a very popular actor in Bollywood during the 1960s, 1970s and the early 1980s. In Hindi cinema, his most famous movies include "Waqt" (1965), Deewaar (1975), Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Trishul (1978), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), Kaala Patthar (1979), Shaan (1980) and Namak Halaal (1982).

In most of his successful films in the 1970s and early 1980s he co-starred alongside Amitabh Bachchan.He was also known internationally for starring in many British and American films notably the Merchant Ivory productions, "Shakespeare Wallah" (1965), "Bombay Talkie" (1970) and "Heat and Dust" (1982) in which he co-starred with his wife Jennifer Kendal.

He also appeared in other English and American films such "Pretty Polly" (1967), "Siddhartha" (1972) and "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid"(1987).He set up his production house, Film Valas, which produced critically acclaimed films such as "Kalyug" (1981), "36 Chowringhee Lane" (1981) and "Utsav" (1984).
BIOGRAPHY :

In 1991 he produced and directed a fantasy film titled "Ajooba" which had his frequent co-star Amitabh Bachchan and nephew Rishi Kapoor in the lead.His last and most recent film appearances were in "Jinnah" (1998), a biopic of Mohammed Ali Jinnah in which he was the narrator and another Merchant-Ivory production titled "Side Streets" (1998).

He has now retired from the film industry and not appeared in any film since. He has been seen in the limelight at the "Shashi Kapoor Film Festival" held in Muscat, Omani (Sept 2007). He has lost a considerable amount of weight and looked in healthy shape.

In July, 1958, he married the British actress Jennifer Kendal and they acted in a number of films together, most notably in the Merchant Ivory productions. He had three children with Kendal, Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor and Sanjana Kapoor all of which for a short while became film actors. Kendal died of cancer in 1984.


HIS MOVIES WITH SUPER STAR RAJESH KHANNA :

1) Prem Kahani - 1975
2) Avtaar - 1983
3) Alag Alag - 1985