Shammi Kapoor wanted to ride a Rolls Royce

Shammi kapoor was so fond of driving cars that he used to drive his own car even after dialysis. On Sunday night Amitabh Bachchan blogged, “I want to ride a Rolls Royce”, Shammi Kapoor would often say. And when I offered to send him mine to keep and drive at will, he would resist it. ‘Let me come out of the hospital then we shall both go for a drive in it”, he had excitedly told me but we never could get that ride together.
Shammi Kapoor loved driving and had even imported one which was completely automatic. He even drove it to Pran’s house to celebrate the veteran actor’s 90^th birthday.
Bachchan wrote, ``He loved cars and driving them. He may have had problems walking during his last moments, but it never deterred him from getting behind the wheel.’’
Bachchan’s first saw Shammi Kapoor in a Prithvi theatre play in Allahabad. The actor recalls, ‘I think I first saw him acting in a play with his Father, the great PrithviRaj Kapoor as he enacted a scene for Prithvi Theaters at a hall in Allahabad. He had slid down an entire staircase on set, sitting on a ‘thali’. There was a carefree ambience about him, enveloping everyone around. He worked with Prithvi Theaters in those early years, and after the night show was over would be asked by PrithviRaj ji to join him and other cast members to listen to my Father’s recitation till late in the night.’’
Bachchan who is now a relative of the Kapoors writes about his first meeting with Shammi Kapoor at a social event,`` After I did ‘Anand’ he became a constant for us. Neela ji his second wife after the sudden death of his first, the wondrous Geeta Bali, became extremely fond of Jaya and I as did Shammi ji and from then and there started a constant family like relationship. Little did I ever realise that one day it actually would fructify into a family relationship. Shweta married Niky, Raj Kapoor ji’s daughter Ritu’s son and we had become official relatives.’’
Shammi kapoor and Bachchan acted in four films together which included Shashi Kapoor directed Ajooba, Parvarish, Zameer and Desh Premee. Bachchan wrote, ``Shammi ji and I worked together in a few films and it was moments that can never be forgotten. His verve for life, its excitement, its energy was infectious. He would enter a room and suddenly everything would electrify. You were happy in his company and his optimism. Spending a few moments with him could pump up the adrenalin to its maximum degree.’’
Bachchan even confesses to copy the Yahoo man. Recalling his college days, he writes``when we first saw his film ‘Dil Deke Dekho’, we were mesmerized by the sheer power of his presence. His style his dance his clothes, his puffed hair style that lazily yet provocatively would often fall on his forehead, all became images that every young around the country wanted to emulate. I loved a jacket that he wore in ‘Junglee’, but never ever in a position to buy one like that, had asked my Mother to tailor something similar by cutting up a discarded blanket of mine, which looked like a really bad copy. When we met friends and spent time with them, we would fling our hair and body in the way he did in all his pictures. Somewhere, everyone of us thought we were Shammi Kapoors in the making, if not already.’’
Like most of his costars, Bachchan said, ``He just loved life and all that it threw to him. He never gave in. Strong and full of happy will, even as he struggled in his later years, he would never give the impression how gravely ill he was. He would laugh and joke on his numerous visits to the hospital for his dialysis, joke with the staff in the hospital, pull their leg. He would almost make you feel that he was visiting you in hospital, rather than the other way round.’’
On Sunday morning his daughter Shweta broke the news of Shammi Kapoor’s death to him. The actor immediately drove to Shammi Kapoor’s house. The actor writes, `` million memories hurry past as you drive down to his ‘Blue Haven’ residence. A cozy warm and welcoming apartment, where we had spent many wonderful evenings and nights with him and his effervescence. And there as I walk past his still pale figure embalmed and kept in a freezer container, you almost feel as though he would spring out of it and with his feisty elan invite you over to dine with him.