Shammi Kapoor is Indian cinema’s first pin-up star. He gave the Indian teenager his first icon in the mould of the western idols. His ducktail haircut, fitting jeans, t-shirts and leather jackets made the first ever fashion statement from the celluloid world which set a trend. His films displayed sheer energy, the songs and the passionate, animated style of courting were antithetical to the then existing sombre outpourings in song by Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. Shammi Kapoor wooed his ladies rolling down slopes, leaping in the air and landing on his knees a physicality hitherto unknown in Indian cinema. He challenged the reigning triumvirate of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand, with his war cry: ‘Yahoo!’ The pop icon of the 60s, Shammi Kapoor matched the dashing looks of James Dean and style of Elvis Presley

A young Shamsher Raj Kapoor made his debut with ‘Jeevan Jyoti’ opposite Chand Usmani, but the long haired pencil moustachioed aspiring hero remained at the starting gate for the next four years. Son of Prithviraj Kapoor, a star in his own right and brother to Raj Kapoor another star, this Kapoor learnt that genealogy meant nothing in the art of survival in the film industry. Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar were the formidable triumvirate of matinee idols. Frustration set in, but in 1957 a film called ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’ changed all that as the triumvirate met their challenger. Of those lean years, Shammi Kapoor recalls that he "was just plodding along and not getting any recognition. It was a long wait of five years in film industry, and I didn’t get anywhere. I was frustrated. I thought of a change of style and the first chance I got, I jumped at it -- that was ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’. I shaved off my moustache, cut off my long hair, wore tight jeans, had a crew cut and people identified with me. The idea of going for a change of image came first – going for broke or else," the latter meant managing a tea estate in Assam, riding a horse and going on hunts. But Tumsa Nahin Dekha deprived Assam of a tea plantation manager and started a new chapter in the history of Indian cinema dedicated to Shammi Kapoor.

Singularly called the ’Rebel Star’ an epithet conferred on him by Bunny Reuben, publicist, journalist and a long time friend, Kapoor remembers: "At that moment the film industry was ruled by three top stars – Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. They were the stalwarts and there was a ’no admission’ board outside and one could not go beyond that. That was very frustrating. I remember distinctly one night in Chembur, it was happy hours, Bunny Reuben and I were talking and I spoke my mind out I said that I have got to break through that barrier of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand. The next day, Bunny who was the editor of ‘Filmfare’ carried a story – ‘The Rebel Star of Tomorrow’.” Recalling the release of ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’, “Nassir Husain and I went to the theatre and saw the public reaction for the first two shows and before the premiere that night we knew we had a hit on our hands."

Shammi Kapoor’s new haircut and clean-shaven face suddenly focussed attention on his fabulous eyes, which became his trademark as he ‘melted’ his heroines with a mere glance. In this he was further aided by OP Nayyar’s zingy musical score with such foot-tapping numbers as ’‘Yoon To Humne Laakh Haseen Dekhein Hain’’, ’‘Chupnewaale Saamne Aa’, ‘Dekho Kasam Se’’ and ’‘Aayein Hain Doorse Milne Huzoorse’’. Tumsa Nahin Dekha made a star out of Shammi Kapoor.

His new hip, mod image was further reinforced in Husain’s Dil Deke Dekho (1959). Other than the soubriquet of the Rebel Star, Shammi Kapoor is strongly associated with his war cry: ‘Yahoo!’ Which became such a rage with the release of ‘Junglee’, that the youth of that time made it into their buzz word to exclaim joy. A popular misconception about this outcry is that it was ‘Junglee’ that showcased it first, Shammi Kapoor is quick to point out that, "I did it first in ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’. It didn’t come in ‘Junglee’ itself, but was a build up and did it in ‘Dil Deke Dekho’ again. Yahoo is the exuberant outcry of success, love and youth – and in ‘Junglee’ it was the climax of the ultimate expression of a man bogged down." Now Yahoo is an Internet website, and the Internet is hammi Kapoor’s domain.

Shammi Kapoor, the Rebel Star wooed female audiences with the same panache as he did his heroines on screen. No other Hindi film hero had made the art of boy chasing girl a more upbeat and playful affair than Shammi Kapoor. While other heroes of the time were conventionally reserved and gracious of manner, Shammi Kapoor in contrast wooed the girls with a boisterous sensuality accompanied by a brash, cocky swagger and an energetic eagerness to rebuke convention. ‘Junglee’ which was his first colour picture, elevated Shammi Kapoor to cult status. An entire decade reeled under its colourful impact as colour, Kashmir and bouffants ruled the 1960s. Until ‘Junglee’’s success, colour had been reserved for big spectacles only, but now colour became an important ingredient even for family romances! ‘Junglee’ saw Shammi Kapoor give a remarkably energetic performance as the rich, stiff upper-lipped, foreign-returned bachelor who is melted by local Kashmiri girl Saira Banu. In fact, Shammi Kapoor’s stock-in-trade roles was that of a spoiled rich lad who not only wins the girl but also gets embroiled in gang rackets or family feuds, all of which are solved by beating up the villain at the end! In an unforgettable moment in ‘Junglee’, leading to the song ‘’Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahen’, Shammi comes rolling down a snow slope, raising the roof with a ‘Yahoo!’ Following Junglee’s success, throughout the 1960s it appeared that Shammi Kapoor could do no wrong. Hit followed hit as films like Dil Tera Deewana (1962), Professor (1962), Rajkumar (1964), Jaanwar (1965) and Teesri Manzil (1966) swept the box-office.

Since his films were essentially lightweight fun films focussing mainly on skirmishes of the sexes, critics tended to ignore his films even though he had the entire youth of India swinging to his tune. But in ‘Brahmachari’ (1968), he surprised his detratctors by playing a man looking after abandoned children. The film besides scoring at the box-office won him an award for the Best Actor for his performance. Besides Shammi’s exuberance and dancing ability a large part of his appeal was also due to the extremely hummable and catchy songs (mainly composed by Shanker-Jaikishan and O.P. Nayyar) picturised on him. Songs like ’‘Suku Suku’’, ‘’Ae Gulbadan’’, ’‘Govinda Aalaa Re’’, ‘’Deewana Hua Badal’’, ’‘Tumne Pukara Aur Hum Chale Aaye’’, ’‘Tumse Achha Kaun Hai’’, ’‘O Mere Sona Re’’, ‘’Akele Akele Kahaan Jaa Rahe Ho’’, ’‘Aajkal Tere Mere Pyaar ke Charche’’, ’‘Badan Pe Sitare’’ and ‘’Hain Na Bolo Bolo’ are eternal favourites even today. There was another collaborator in the Shammi Kapoor cult status his ’voice’ Mohd Rafi, who always gave a Shammi Kapoor song that something extra! Their special tuning made it impossible to differentiate when Rafi stopped singing and when Shammi Kapoor began enacting the song. The two were one. " “Rafi and I evolved over the years,"” Shammi Kapoor avers,“he sang without a face. "” But it was Jaikishan in ‘Tumsa Nahin Dekha’ who ushered in the association of artiste and a song. "“Jaikishan and I were in Prithvi together. He urged me to be present at the recording of the songs. To be able to help and inspire the singer ‘I can compose a song for you, but only you know how you are going to perform it’, Jaikishan told me."” No wonder that the songs of Shammi Kapoor films have such an exciting quality and if he moves to music with abandon it is as he says, "“All my music I dance to in my heart. Never had any formal training in music but always loved music and in theatre exposed to various forms of music, and experimented with the rhythm at every opportunity."

As he gave way to a younger Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor tried his hands with direction and his first film with Sanjeev Kapoor and Zeenat Aman was Manoranjan which met with mediocre success. This was followed by a film with Rajesh Khanna and Sulakshna Pandit called Bundalbaaz. The end result at the box-office was miserable. After this, he began doing character roles. He had the opportunity to do some films in other languages such as Bengali and Tamil as well. In 1982 he got acclaim as Best Supporting Actor in Vidhaata. For a short period of time he produced his own video entertainment magazine called ‘Shammi Kapoor presents Manoranjan’.

Today, he loves to do nothing better than surf the Internet and listen to music.

T R I V I A

He had worked with most of the major actresses of the day like Suraiya, Madhubala, Geeta Bali, Nalini Jaywant and Nutan. New heroines like Asha Parekh, Saira Banu, Kalpana and Sharmila Tagore (in Hindi - she was already well known in Bengali Cinema) were successfully launched in his starrers.

Memorable films

Shama Parwana (1954) Hum Sab Chor Hain (1956) Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957) Mujrim (1958) Dil Deke Dekho (1959) Ujala (1959) Basant (1960) Singapore (1960) Boyfriend (1961) Junglee (1961) China Town (1962) Dil Tera Deewana (1962) Professor (1962) Wallah Kya Baat Hai (1962) Bluff Master (1963) Kashmir Ki Kali (1964) Rajkumar (1964) Jaanwar (1965) Badtameez (1966) Teesri Manzil (1966) An Evening in Paris (1967) Brahmachari (1968) Prince (1969) Tumse Achha Kaun Hai (1969) Pagla Kahin Ka (1970) Andaaz (1971) Zameer (1975) Parvarish (1977) Prem Rog (1982) Vidhaata (1982) Betaab (1983) Hero (1983) During the early years, 1952 to 1955, he acted in the following films: Rail Ka Dibba with Madhubala. Laila Majnu with Nutan. Thokar with Shyama. Shama Parvana with Suraiya. Hum Sab Chor Hain with Nalini Jaiwant. Sahil, Tangewali, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Miss Coca Cola, Mohar, Rangeen Raaten, Gul Sanobar, Daku, Coffee House, Naqab, Mirza Sahiban, Chor Bazaar, Sipah Salar and some more nondescript films followed, he remained a male starlet.

—Piroj Wadia