Throwing his limbs randomly in the air, agitating his body like he had a current of 440 volts running through his veins and that I-don't-care throw of the head with piercing blue eyes, extremely good looks, making his leading ladies in the film fall in love with his mad, innocent style and his glorious songs...this is what remains in our hearts evenafter he passes on! The true Junglee, the Yahoo man could make anything dance to his beats.
I didn't know where to start as there was just too much to pour out. He must be some 40 years older than our generation, but still when I see his song or a movie, he makes my heart skip a beat. I am sure, same with the many of you. Ever since I heard the sad news, wanted to pay a tribute to the true prince till date. I know I'm not even qualified to write about the legend that brewed up the recipe of stardom by mixing up the genes of Elvis Presley with the chocolate hero image of Bollywood at that time. The mixture turned out to be a flamboyant and debonair aphrodisiac, that was intoxicating not only to his generation but even ours and hopefully many more to come. And his uniqueness still remains as no other hero has been able to copy his style till date. Even on lots of shows you see the mimicry artists mimicking the likes of Dharmender, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor even Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bacchan.....but I don't recall watching anybody act out as Shammi Kapoor. They must be afraid of breaking a bone or two in their bodies if they tried to pretend to be the ball of energy that he was.
I haven't dug deeper to trace his journey to the stardom. Because that is not what I want to reestablish here, I just want to wonder why even our generation feels like we have lost OUR hero. Is it the fact that he was one of the Kapoors? No, initially he was launched as a Kapoor, but then he rose out of the wings of Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kpoor. He wasn't a thinker like Raj Kapoor who created out of the box movies like Mera Naam Joker. He was the kind that manipulated the hearts, saw our dreams for us, chased the charms of Asha Prekh, Saira Bano, Sharmila Tagore for his young generation.
Tumsa Nahi Dekha,Teesri Manzil, Brahmchari, Bluffmaster, Janwar, Kashmir ki Kali, Prince, Junglee....to name a few....all were made in heaven just for him. He was very fortunate too that he had a great chunk of melodies for his share. Music in that era was made to be remembered forever, in many movies. But his melodies were made immortal by him with his crazy moves, innocent face, funny gestures, comic timing and stylish attire. Our feet can't help but start tapping on the beats of his songs whenever we hear them, that is because we have the visual of him expressing each and every word of the lyrics and each and every beat of the instruments, through his naughty, fiery eyes and passionate movements that could burn the dance floor. Even in a B&W number like 'Baar baar dekho..' when there is no assistance of colors, fancy costumes, glittering stage, disco ball to create the atmosphere, Shammi Kapoor makes me clap on every 'Taali hoo...' just by moving his waist in tides of the rhythm. I can turn off the sound and still catch every 'Taali hoo...'.
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