The epic Shashi Kapoor photo that went viral
Highlights
- Shashi Kapoor received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2 years ago
- Shashi Kapoor got photographed with eight of his former heroines
- Mr Kapoor was in a wheelchair then
It was the photo-op of photo-ops. Two years ago, Shashi Kapoor received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award and his family arranged for a ceremony at Prithvi Theatre. Rishi Kapoor presided over events and
Amitabh Bachchan spoke - but it was the post-ceremony photo session with eight of Shashi Kapoor's former heroines that hogged headlines and jogged tear ducts. Mr Kapoor was in a wheelchair then, as he had been for several years, and on Monday, he died of a kidney ailment in Mumbai's Kokilaben Ambani Hospital.
He was 79, only five years older than Mr Bachchan, his co-star of many films. He is mourned and will be greatly missed. Today, as tribute, we revisit this epic photo:
Rishi Kapoor's tweet went instantly viral. And why not, it was proof, if proof were needed, of how beloved Shashi Kapoor was among his own fraternity. The actresses were: Waheeda Rahman, his co-star from
Kabhi Kabhie, Trishul and
Namak Halal; Asha Parekh from
Pyar Ka Mausam; Zeenat Aman from
Satyam Shivam Sundaram; Shabana Azmi, who co-starred with him in
Junoon and
Fakira; Rekha from Baseraa and Utsav; Nafisa Ali from Junoon; Supriya Pathak from Kalyug and Vijeta; and Neetu Singh, who appeared opposite him in
Deewar and later married Rishi Kapoor. Hema Malini, who starred in
Trishul and
Do Aur Do Paanch, was at the ceremony but skipped the photo-op.
Shashi Kapoor's co-stars unanimously picked him as among their favourite colleagues. Zeenat Aman told NDTV, "For me personally, he was one of the nicest co-stars to have ever worked with. He was always cheerful, always happy. In all the years that I worked with him, I never saw him lose his temper, or be unpleasant or untoward. I'm just so happy for him and so delighted for the family."
After the actor's death was announced on Monday evening, his Siddhartha co-star Simi Garewal said it best on Twitter: "The last of that generation of Kapoors gone. A gentleman and friend gone. An era gone... All that remains are his films...and precious memories..."
We'll make do with those memories.