ASHA PAREKH SAYS KAPOOR WAS A FUNLOVING PERSON
It’s shocking that Shashi is not there among us today. A person who dedicated his life to art — I mean — not many stars do that, but he did it. He produced films, directed films and even acted in them. He must have acted in 300 or 400 movies. He put up Prithvi theatre, thought of theatre actors and a way of bringing new artists from theatre background, together.
He was a very fun loving person and wanted to live his life to the fullest. Whenever I worked with him in films, he was someone who used to keep everybody on their toes. He would make fun and crack jokes but when work came, he was very serious about it. He was a very dedicated actor. Parekh worked with Kapoor in Kanyadaan (1968), Pyar Ka Mausam (1969), and Raiszaada (1991).
I met him last when he was given the Dadasaheb Phalke award (2015). But otherwise, I wasn’t really in touch with him for all these years because he was not keeping too well. Once or twice, I had met him at the hospital also. I remember, when he was first admitted to the hospital, I, Nanda and Waheeda (Rahman) — all of us had gone to see him.
As a co-star, I learned from him to be dedicated to your work and get engrossed in whatever you are doing. Shashi was a fabulous actor, so I am sure actors of today’s generation can learn a lot from him.
As told to Monika
Rawal Kukreja