Are you a Shammi Kapoor fan?

The Institute for Near Eastern and African Studies (INEAS) is producing a documentary film called “Professor Shammi & Lady Asha.” The Insititute’s Founding Director, with whom I’ve become acquainted (see her interviews with Shammi here and here), is directing this film about him and Asha Parekh, and is looking for volunteers to participate.

She has also met Asha, and you can read accounts of her travels in India on her blog here.

If you love Shammi (or Asha, or both!), and are interested in talking to her you can leave a comment here or send her an email: INEAS at aol dot com. Some volunteers will participate in a discussion that will be incorporated in the film. Please respond to INEAS by March 16.

Posted on March 9, 2009 at 8:59 am in Hindi movies, Yahoo! Shammi! | RSS feed You can skip to the end and leave a reply.

Tags: Asha Parekh, Shammi Kapoor

49 Comments to “Are you a Shammi Kapoor fan?”

Another Kiran in NYC
March 9, 2009 at 11:25 am

OMGAWD… much Shammi Kapoor love!

Wafaa’ I am from a generation once (or is it twice hmmmm it all “depends”) removed from his heydey but I have to tell you he still makes me happy! And happy is a very, very, very good thing.

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Aimee
March 9, 2009 at 12:14 pm

If only I lived in Cambridge!

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- memsaab
  March 9, 2009 at 2:48 pm
  
  Send an email to that address anyway! You never know how things might work out :)
  
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Tim
March 9, 2009 at 2:40 pm

A fellow Shammi-crazy fan! Am kicking myself for not having google’d earlier. So much to read up on. Have been scouring your blog for hours now.
Cheers

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memsaab
March 9, 2009 at 2:48 pm

Welcome Tim :) There is much Shammi love here, and it will never end! The more, the merrier!

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dustedoff
March 10, 2009 at 12:17 am

Wow, this isgood. And I envy her – meeting Shammi Kapoor and Asha Parekh! *goes off to see Teesri Manzil once again*

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harvey
March 10, 2009 at 3:15 am

wow, what a great idea!
am looking forward to the results.
memsaab, you are becoming a turn table of sorts for important happenings!
great!

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Keith
March 10, 2009 at 3:44 pm

As Beth can tell you, while I have not seen quite enough Shammi films to really call myself a fan, I am never the less a HUGE fan of his “in my prime” pencil-thin mustache. Man could rock the pencil thin as suavely as Clarke Gable or Errol Flynn.

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memsaab
March 10, 2009 at 3:50 pm

Ha ha, he calls those his “male starlet” days…but you’re right, he did manage to carry off the pencil thin mouche even while being stewed alive in a giant pot. Or screeched at by that banshee Leela Mishra.

My favorite of those days is definitely Mem Sahib (and not only for the obvious reason).

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Hema
March 10, 2009 at 4:13 pm

What was noticeable about the live and phone interview with Shammi ji is that he comes across as an intellectual. Like his brain seems very active. I am not sure I know many people his age who are comfortable with a computer and negotiating it uncoached by younger people.

We picked the right hero to be a groupie over!

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shweta
March 10, 2009 at 4:17 pm

Her blog is v interesting, to say the least. I’ve emailed her, and need to read that blog from begining to end. I have to echo Harvey here- brilliant job Memsaab.

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memsaab
March 10, 2009 at 4:34 pm

Hema, Yes he seems very energetic in all the interviews I’ve seen with him. We did pick a good one, I agree :)

shweta: Thanks, I hope we can all help her out. Would be a lovely film to see :) and thanks to you and harvey both, but I’ve really not done anything. She has though!

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Beth
March 10, 2009 at 10:59 pm

Must think hard about a question for Asha (other than “What was it like to work with Shaaaashiiiiiii?”). LOVE HER. Maybe something about the awesomely gigantic fish barette in Pyaar Ka Mausam….

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memsaab
March 11, 2009 at 7:53 am

You could also ask Shammi: what is it like to be the older brother of Shaaaaaashiiiiiiiii???!!!!

:-) I love her too. Feisty, great dancer, very pretty in a very unique way—what is not to love about Asha?

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Hema
March 11, 2009 at 10:18 am

I have tons of questions for both….so if anyone gets stuck and gets called to interview…I have many to pass around I am sure. No worries!

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memsaab
March 11, 2009 at 10:44 am

Hema, send her an email—I am sure she would be interested in what a huge fan like you has to say!!!

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Hema
March 11, 2009 at 10:54 am

Waaaayyyy ahead of you. I already did. Nimble fingers you know and all that…

Does anyone know if the Deepa Gahlot book on Shammi ji is anywhere near authentic, or authorized? It is supposed to be released in April 2009.

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hema
March 12, 2009 at 6:44 pm

Does anyone know the meaning of the Hindi word “shehezaade”? It occurs in almost every Shammi-Rafi song and I think it means Lady..but I am not sure of the exact meaning. I am too busy swimming in Shammi ji’s eyes and so at that point it doesn’t matter. But then I surface and I want to know….

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- memsaab
  March 19, 2009 at 12:35 pm
  
  I think shehzada infers a royal connection (empress, princess) although I could be wrong…but I’ve mostly seen it used in that context.
  
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Nasir
March 19, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Though I had first seen Shammi Kapoor’s MISS COCA-COLA which starred his would to be wife, Geeta Bali, I did not understand his movies. Then in 1956 I saw his TUMSA NAHIN DEKHA which was released at the Naaz Cinema (Main Theatre), Bombay, I did enjoy the movie. But still I was too young. By the time PROFESSOR was released (1961) at the Alankar Cinema, I was in the Seventh and used to be attracted to the opposite sex. It was with this background that I saw that movie, and was completely swept off the feet. Shammi Kapoor literally made me crazy. I went home and wrote down the complete screen play, dialogues, script et all scene by scene in a note book. Such was the impact! My walk, talk, manners, all changed, since I began imitating Shammi Kapoor. His flamboyance continued to haunt me throughout my youthful days. Then I began to see all his older movies as well. I found him more devastatingly handsome in the earlier movie, DIL DEKE DEKHO which remains my most favourite Shammi Kapoor movie along with TEESRI MANZIL, JUNGLEE, PROFESSOR, RAJ KUMAR, JANWAR, TUMSE ACHHA KAUN HAI, etc.
Shammi Kapoor is synonymous with youth and zest, fun and frolic.
It was he who thus taught me the meaning of “fan.” I will always adore him.
Nasir

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memsaab
March 19, 2009 at 12:34 pm

That’s great, Nasir! I do love him too. Be sure to check out my post devoted to him (I’ve also given him his own category here, which nobody else has gotten, at least not yet!) :)

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Hema
March 19, 2009 at 3:05 pm

hey Nasir, you are talking my talk!
After seeing Dil Deke Dekho, I could’t resist this man. I especially liked the scene where he was dressed in all white just before singing “Hum Aur Tum Aur Yeh Saman”. He says to the Asha Parekh character “Vaapas Aa Jawun?” with his back away from her. I mean the character absolutely knows how to romance a woman, so cool and such great direction from Nasir Hussain. That will remain my most favorite scene ever.

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Hema
March 20, 2009 at 11:53 am

There is a great review of Mujrim here:

http://tiny.cc/4oj6d

Shammi looks awesome as usual. I have never actually watched a Geeta Bali movie. Her dance sequence was good and she looks like she was watching her figure in that tight suit, you can’t escape noticing.

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Richard S.
March 21, 2009 at 5:57 am

Hema, thank you very much for the nice reference!

I haven’t seen a link to my blog done this way…

The link brings you to the middle of the comments, though (at least it did in my browser) – which is fine, but I hope that people will scroll up to see all the clips, etc.

Memsaab, very nice post – thanks for the Shammi interview links and the Asha Parekh blog post link. (Yes, I like Asha a lot too.)

I don’t think that I would qualify as a complete Shammi fan yet, but I enjoyed seeing him a lot in two of his “starlet” films, Singapore and Mujrim. I watched those because (as some people know) I’m a big Travancore Sisters fan, and we get to see plenty of Padmini and Ragini between the two films. Then I was surprised at how much I appreciated Shammi’s performance in them too. (Although I think my favorite Hindi film of all was that one made around the same time with Padmini and Shammi’s older brother. ;)

And as I mentioned to Hema over at my blog, I also was surprised at how good Geeta Bali’s dance was in Mujrim. I’d seen her in Baazi and maybe something else that I can’t remember off the top of my head, and in a bunch of clips. I thought her dancing in Mujrim was better.

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- memsaab
  March 21, 2009 at 8:55 am
  
  Geeta was a great dancer, and a great actress too….we were sadly deprived of her way too early. Maybe she was inspired to greater dancing heights in Mujrim since she was dancing in front of Shammi :)))
  
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Nasir
March 21, 2009 at 6:28 am

I wonder what happened to my comments on Hema’s HAMM AUR TUM AUR SAMAA…..Is it lost and gone somewhere else?

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- memsaab
  March 21, 2009 at 8:56 am
  
  I check comment spam pretty regularly and have rescued some comments from there; but I haven’t seen that one of yours…maybe the system hiccuped just as you submitted it :) You can try it again if you like! Since you’ve commented here before it should show up immediately (ie won’t be sent for moderation by me)…
  
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Hema
March 21, 2009 at 11:00 am

Cool Richard…that you could actually find these DVD’s. Good for you. I am actually not a big Geeta Bali fan but just interested in her as Shammi’s wife. But her dancing here was great and yes, probably having Shammi on the set may have inspired her to greater heights. Also having Ragini in the movie may have made her work hard.

I met Padmini a while back She lives in NJ and runs a dance school. My friend is one of her senior dancers. She did have a few heart operations however and looked very frail at the time. Nevertheless her face had that look as in the movies.

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Richard S.
March 21, 2009 at 1:44 pm

Sadly, Padmini is no longer with us, as she died of a heart attack in 2006. Hema, it is fantastic that you had the chance to meet her sometime back; I’d be happy to hear more about that. I’ve seen later pictures of her and, yes, she looked a bit different, as though age and probably health were taking some toll, but you could still see that face from the old movies, especially the famous Padmini eyes.

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Hema
March 21, 2009 at 6:44 pm

I met her at my friend’s house. We went to see a dance performance together. It was a performance of Balasaraswati’s daughter Lakshmi. She has just undergone triple bypass and looked very frail. She was wearing a zari sari and her jewelry got stuck in it. I was handy and she asked me to unstuck the jewelry. She was very nice to be around. Of course, her health looked like it was keeping her from being a more active participant in the conversations. She knew we were all dance fans so it was like a big happy family on this side of the pond.

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Richard S.
March 21, 2009 at 9:58 pm

Wow, you got to unstuck Padmini’s jewelry! :)

That looks like a nice memory – thanks for telling it.

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Nasir
March 22, 2009 at 8:34 am

Hema, that song HAMM AUR TUM AUR YEH SAMAA is truly a haunting piece of melody. The pent-up emotions of Asha Parekh, and Shammi Kapoor rubbing on it – though very sweetly, and the wonderful background ambience – all go to make that scene memorable. Usha Khanna had composed a beautiful tune, and Rafi Sahaab with his sweet, dulcet voice.

By the way, this song also happened to be Rafi Sahaab’s favourite. So after recording session of TU ISS TARAH SE MEREE ZINDAGI MEIN SHAAMIL HAI was over, so pleased was he with the result that he came to Usha Khanna and started singing the Dil Deke Dekho song.

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Hema
March 23, 2009 at 11:18 am

I agree Nasir. Thanks for telling me that Mohd Rafi also loved that song. I fall asleep listening to it over and over. I wonder if Usha Khanna struck gold in any other song after that. I can’t believe that scene. It was so surreal.

By the way, I have a link to a story comparing Elvis and Shammi on my blog

http://www.sanskritcamp.blogspot.com

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jawaad
March 26, 2009 at 11:30 am

i have s these movies of shammi(as a hero) on dvd. any other movies of his i should watch, which are as good

junglee
professer
kashmir ki kali
an evening in paris
bramachari
andaz

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Kanan
March 27, 2009 at 7:31 pm

waah!

*humming o mere sona re sona re sona re…*

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Nasir
March 28, 2009 at 4:21 am

Thanks for that story on Elvis and Shammi Kapoor, Hema.
Personally, I believe that Shammi Kapoor happened to be at the right time and place when Rock and Roll shook the world. It was then that he came out of the old world of Laila Majnu and Shama Parwana and donned the new getup of the then modern hero who’s full of life and enthusiasm and goodness. Shammi Kapoor never looked or sounded vulgar despite his comparison with Elvis. He was the knight in shinning armour who rescued the damsels in distress as he did in TUMSE ACHHA KAUN HAI. He was a gallant hero and a true romantic and a selfless wooer of his beloved who could even sacrifice his love for saving a life, as he did in PROFESSOR. Oh, I could go on and on his heroic exploits. I prefer him to Elvis in short. That’s what I want to say! LOL……

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Hema
March 28, 2009 at 7:09 pm

hey Nasir! I am with you 100% on the Shammi being way more entertaining and wholesome than Elvis. I was never impressed with Elvis except that his movies also had the same theme of saving damsels in distress and falling in young love. Lot of beach scenes etc. But the movies were always wholesome.

Elvis did his crazy dancing usually live or on television specials. Not usually in movies.

I loved Tumse Accha Kaun Hai which actually got me started in December 2008 on the Shammi fan rocket ride. There was no stopping me after that. I love the look he gives Babita’s character after she transforms herself and runs to meet him and he is standing there in his yellow shirt. That is look no other person can repeat. That is just before they sing the song “kisi ke nahin nahin….”…. I wish I had the English translation for that song. My DVD does not give subtitles for songs.

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Nasir
March 30, 2009 at 12:14 pm

That song, Hema, KHUSHBOO TERE BADAN KI, KISI MEN NAHEEN NAHEEN…. also sets the screen on fire, aided by the lyrics and the playback voices. I still remember Shammi Kapoor Lines: (somewhat):
YOON TOH HASEEN LAAKH HAI DUNIYA KI RAAH ME.N
AATA NAHEEN HAI KOEE BHEE MEREE NIGAAH ME.N….(To say there are umpteens beautiful women in the world; But no one is able to meet my standards….) Shammi Kapoor and Babita’s screen chemistry comes alive in this song.
By the way, just for additional info: TUMSE ACHHA KAUN HAI (often confused with the song of that name in JANWAR) had its premiere in Bombay at the Apsara Cinema in 1968. LOL……

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yves
April 14, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Hi there,
Wouldn’t “shehzada” have some connection with Sheherazade, the princess of The Arabian Nights, to whom the king asks to tell the 100 and one tales?… (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade)

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- Nasir
  April 14, 2009 at 11:42 pm
  
  No, No, yves.
  Shehzada (Shehzaada) simply means “prince”. Shehzadi (Shehzaadi) means princess.
  Now, Sheherazade was the name of the princess who goes on narrating stories to the king for thousand and one nights to escape being killed at his hand since the king used to marry a virgin, enjoy the wedding night, and then get them killed the next morning. Now why he did that in itself is a very interesting story.
  
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vidya
May 18, 2009 at 4:34 pm

Ohhh!! What a great discussion. I lovveeee Shammi kapoor. Infact, everybody in our family loves him. It started with my father being his greatest fan and it slowly rubbed on all of us ( me, mom and sis) I remember watching his songs in chitrahar and continuously laughing over his crazy antics. And if his song plays in Rangoli, that’d be a beautiful sunday for me. He is such a romantic hero that I bet every girl would have wished to have a boyfriend like him. And all his songs are to die for. They are just ultimate. There are no right words to describe my feeling when I see his movies or songs. It’s a shame he’s so detached from the movies now. I love you Shammi Kapoor. There was no else like you and won’t be ever. Thank you so much for giving such great movies. Kudos to you.

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m. k.
June 23, 2009 at 7:01 am

When the soul is free from most of the mundane & worldly bonds, limits & containments; & the heart is filled with gratefulness & love of God & His creations, only then one can act like Shammi Sahib or appreciate & enjoy his art & acting.

The great artist who the world hasn’t recognized to the level he deserved.

But then it’s good because only few can understand & value the real outstanding & out-of-this-world gem person, his art & acting. If everybody understood it, he might not have stayed as precious & unique. The unique & very precious things often stay hidden & sublimely exposed.

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bluelotus
December 16, 2009 at 5:20 am

A few days back there was the news of Shammi Kapoor having been hospitalised with a chest infection. Hope he has been discharged from the hospital.

Here is the link to an interesting little note written by Mr. Shammi Kapoor.
http://delfikorakle.blogspot.com/2007/08/presenting-mr-shammi-kapoor.html

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Sushama
May 15, 2010 at 10:32 am

where can I get the DVDs which has songs /dances like ” Hasta huva noorani Chehra”, Dances from films ” Kalpana’, Chitralekha, Shikari, Parasmani Etc. I live in USA.

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Ayesha
September 1, 2010 at 3:07 pm

I love Shammi Kapoor. he is my role model!!!!!!!

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dr.Mohamed Dawood
October 19, 2010 at 7:54 am

i just want to say to this great person happy birthday .

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Ghulam Mohd Bhat
January 14, 2018 at 4:20 am

What is the present status of the documentary?????

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Vivek narain
June 21, 2021 at 3:54 pm

Meemsaab i’m into mandela effect,infact a core member of the original site.I’m also an old member of Shammi club,watching his movies since ’80.My mother used to tell me his second marraige was with Niela devi,princess of Alwar in Rajasthan.Now i find she’s from Bhavnagar Gujarat,what’s your take?

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- memsaab
  June 22, 2021 at 11:24 am
  
  I have only ever heard that she was from Bhavnagar, and a daughter of the royal family there.
  
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