Shashi Kapoor's 83rd birth anniversary: Lesser-known facts about the actor

Shashi Kapoor’s contribution to Hindi cinema made him one of the stalwarts of the film industry. In his entire career that spanned decades, he was a part of many commercially and critically successful films. Today, on the occasion of Shashi Kapoor’s 83rd birth anniversary, let’s take a look at some lesser-known facts about the evergreen actor...

Shashi Kapoor made his film debut when he was four and went on to feature in films produced by his father, Prithviraj Kapoor. He made his debut as an adult in 1961 with ‘Dharmputra’ and also started working as an assistant stage manager. He impressed with his acting calibre not only in Bollywood but also in several English films that include ‘Shakespeare-Wallah’ (1963), ‘The Householder’ (1965), ‘A Matter of Innocence released’ (1967).

Shashi made his directorial debut was with the film ‘Ajooba’, which starred Amitabh Bachchan. Speaking about his co-actor and director, the Big B had once revealed to a news portal that he would care immensely for his artistes and technicians and treated everyone equally.

Despite having a choc-a-bloc schedule, the actor kept his personal and professional life separate and would never bring work home. Shashi’s son Kunal Kapoor, while talking to a news portal, had revealed that his father would try to schedule his outdoor shoots in such a manner that it would coincide with their school holidays. And since most of the actor's films were shot in Kashmir, the family would often holiday there.

Such was his love for cinema that he liked to invest all his money in theatre and cinema, instead of investing in other commercial ventures. He breathed and lived movies throughout his life, whether it brought him profit or loss.

Shashi Kapoor was a heartthrob back in the '70s, and Shabana Azmi was a huge fan of the actor. As per a report, the veteran actress had once revealed that she would save her pocket money and buy Shashi Kapoor posters from Grant Road and get them autographed by him. But, as fate had it, the actress got a chance to romance Shashi Kapoor in ‘Fakira’. When she found out she had landed the film, an elated Shabana had burst into tears in her makeup room.

Unlike other stars, Shashi Kapoor was not a fan of awards. However, when it was announced that the veteran actor would be conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award, his son, Kunal Kapoor revealed that his dad was thrilled and even smiled a little upon being conferred with a prestigious award.