PYAAR NE USSE UNCHAAI TAK PAHUNCHAAYA , LEKIN PYAAR NE USSE GIRAAYA BHI.... By Ali Peter John

The best thing about being human is the god- given gift of falling in love. The most glorious thing about true love is that lovers do not think much about the ways of the world while they are madly , excessively and obsessively in love - ALI PETER JOHN

They reach a point of no return and it is heaven on earth if the lovers end up being life partners. But there is also the danger of lovers depending on each other to an extent that they cannot live without the support of each other.

This truth about life was proved in the story of Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer. They had fallen in love when Jennifer’s family which was deeply into the plays of Shakespeare with their family playing all the principal roles and Jennifer was one of them.

Shashi was in Hindi films , taking his first few steps , but he was interested in theater which got him interested in the Kendall family which was dedicated to Shakespeare and it was during his many meetings with the family that he fell in love with Jennifer and married her in spite of all the differences of caste and other major differences.

Shashi and Jennifer started a life of their own and had children who they named Karan , Kunal and Sanjana. Shashi was not doing very well as an actor till he married Jennifer, but his luck or call it what you may, changed as soon as he had the responsibility of taking care of a family.

His luck completely took a great turn after a film called “Jab Jab Phool Khile” and again after he did “Chor Machaye Shor” with Mumtaz who was considered a lucky mascot for every hero , big or small.

A time came when Shashi shot for seven films in a day which was unbelievable, but he did it because he felt he would never get a chance to make as much money as possible.

He worked very hard even though Jennifer who had taken complete charge of his personal life warned him not to overdo. Things as it could be bad for him physically and as an artist.

But Shashi went on signing films and slowed down only when his big dream to be cast in a film of his brother, Raj Kapoor was fulfilled and he was the hero of “Satyam Shivam Sundaram”.

Jennifer was keeping track of all his financial matters too and one day asked him why he could not build a new kind of theater in honour of his father, Prithviraj Kapoor and Shashi did not think twice and gave Jennifer the permission to build what was to be Prithvi Theater in Juhu where there was a piece of land which was a part of “Prithvi Jhopda”, the house of Shashi’s father who had died of cancer some years ago.

Jennifer got Ved Sagan, one of the best theatre designers in the world to design Prithvi Theatre and within no time Prithvi Theatre became a landmark in Mumbai and it gave new life to theatre in every language.

Jennifer had other ideas. She wanted Shashi to produce what was called art films and her request was an order for the lover in Shashi and he lined up a number of films which were very different from the usual kind of films and he produced his first art film “36 Chowringhee Lane”, in which he had Jennifer herself in the key role and asked Aparna Sen, the actress turned director to make the film as she wanted.

Jennifer was outstanding but the national award for that year went to Rekha for “Umrao Jaan” which broke Shashi’s heart and he did not want to continue making these art films, but again it was Jennifer who kept inspiring him and Filmvalas, Shashi’s banner made films like “Junoon”, “Kaliyug” , “Vijeta” and “Utsav”.

All the films were appreciated and Shashi was called “the savior of new cinema in india”. But little did outsiders know that Shashi was losing huge sums of money in every films and his back finally broke when he made the costliest film , “Utsav” in which Rekha’s costume was only all gold as the director , Girish Karnad wanted her to be dressed like that whether anyone liked it or not.

It was the biggest flop and forced Shashi to give up Jennifer’s idea of making art films. In a classic statement made by Shashi, he said , “inn daadhiwalo ne to ek bechara Shashi Kapoor ko barbad kar diya” . He was referring to all the directors who made his art films.

It was while he was planning his next move that Jennifer was diagnosed for cancer and she died leaving Shashi bereft. The man who lived life according to Jennifer went berserk. He started drinking Vodka from early morning till he went to sleep.

He had no control over his diet and he put on so much weight that he could not even walk. There was no work for him as an actor except for the father and grandfather’s roles in some insignificant films.

The only meaningful film he did was “in Custody” made by his childhood friend, Ismail Merchant who was the only man who kept him happy with holydays in Europe and France.

Shashi Kapoor decided to direct his own big film, “Ajooba” with his friend Amitabh Bachchan, Shammi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Rishi Kapoor, Sonam and Amrish Puri. The film shot in Russia was the final knock Shashi received.

He had a favorite dream and it was to direct Dilip Kumar in a film. He had even completed half the script , but accidents and ailments continued to play havoc with him after he fell into a manhole and broke all his bones and life was a long journey of pain and misery.

He spent the last days of his life in Prithvi Apartments opposite Prithvi Theatre. He lost his memory and did not even know when he received the Padma Bhushan. It was a sad end to the life of a man who loved to spread happiness among people.

For me , Shashi will be a reminder of many things, but the one thing I will always remember is that he was the first man to take me on a flight and who made me realize that air hostesses were not the fairies I used to think they were.