Highlights
- Veteran actor Shammi Kapoor, hailed as the 'Elvis Presley of India' and whose famous yell Yahoo signified the arrival of a rebel star against the reigning trio of his time Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar, passed away here this morning due to chronic renal failure.
- The 79-year-old legend, who was often compared to Elvis Presley due to his looks, was in the ICU of Breach Candy Hospital and breathed his last this morning, family sources said.
- The funeral will take place tomorrow morning, they informed.
- Kapoor is survived by his wife Neeladevi, son Aditya Raj, daughter Kachan Desai.
- For the last few years, he was undergoing dialysis for three days a week.
Veteran actor Shammi Kapoor, hailed as the 'Elvis Presley of India' and whose famous yell
Yahoo signified the arrival of a rebel star against the reigning trio of his time Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar, passed away here this morning due to chronic renal failure.
The 79-year-old legend, who was often compared to Elvis Presley due to his looks, was in the ICU of Breach Candy Hospital and breathed his last this morning, family sources said.
The funeral will take place tomorrow morning, they informed.
Kapoor is survived by his wife Neeladevi, son Aditya Raj, daughter Kachan Desai.
For the last few years, he was undergoing dialysis for three days a week.
Born Shamsher Raj Kapoor on October 21, 1931, Kapoor was the middle son of veteran theatre and film actor Prithviraj Kapoor and younger brother of showman Raj Kapoor.
Despite his family background, Shammi's entry into Bollywood was initially not successful even though he worked with major heroines like Madhubala in
Rail Ka Dibba, Suraiya in
Shama Parwana and Nalini Jaywant in
Hum Sab Chor Hain.
His initial movies flopped at the Box Office. He reinvented himself with
Tumsa Nahi Dekha cutting his hair in the famous duck-tail style of the 50s and never looked back since then.
With the success of
Junglee in 1961, an entire decade reeled under its colourful impact.
Shammi heralded the swinging 60s and a large part of his appeal was primarily due to the immensely catchy and upbeat numbers like
Suku suku,
O haseena zulfo wali,
Aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche,
Aaja aaja main hoon pyaar tera where he was at his boisterous best.
Even though success came with light weight tales like
Kashmir Ki Kali,
Rajkumar,
Jaanwar and
An Evening In Paris, his performances in flicks like
Junglee,
Badtameez,
Bluff Master and
Pagla Kahin Ka,
Teesri Manzil,
Brahmachari silenced his critics.
Andaz released in 1971 was his last movie as a leading man but his character roles in
Vidhata,
Hero,
Prem Rog were well received.
Shammi was a computer aficionado and his last years were veered towards spiritualism.