Did you know Shashi Kapoor's real name was not 'Shashi'?
On the 83rd birth anniversary of the legendary gem of the Indian cinema, Shashi Kapoor, we have for you an interesting story behind his name! Shashi Kapoor was awarded Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian Cinema, and the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 2011. The legendary actor had passed away in 2017, at the age of 79.
Shashi Kapoor had acted in more than 174 films in his glorious career spanning over six decades. He had made his debut as a child artist in his brother, Raj Kapoor's directorial debut film, Aag in 1948. In 1961, Shashi ji had made his debut as a lead actor in Yash Chopra's movie, Dharamputra.
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Shashi ji was suffering from a prolonged illness and at the age of 79, he had bid goodbye to the world and had left us with some amazing memories to cherish upon. On the occasion of Shashi ji's 83rd birth anniversary, we found a beautiful never-seen-before picture with his daughter, Sanjana Kapoor. In the picture, the doting daughter can be seen standing behind her father as the two posed for the camera with their brightest smiles.
Shashi Kapoor was born on March 18, 1938, to Prithviraj Kapoor and Ramsarni Kapoor. His birthplace is in Calcutta. Upon his birth, Shashi ji was named Balbir Raj Kapoor, to keep in sync with the Kapoor family's tradition of adopting the word 'Raj' in their names. However, his mother had disliked the name and had started calling him as Shashi (moonbeam), since he was obsessed with the moon. Shashi ji spent long hours watching the moon as a child and thus went on to be known as Shashi Kapoor.
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In a throwback interview in 1995 with a journalist, Priya Warrier, Shashi ji had shared some interesting facts about his life. During the interview, Shashi ji had made a shocking confession that his mother, Ramsarni Mehra Kapoor used to call him 'Fluky'. Revealing the reason behind it, he had said, "My mum used to call me Fluky because I was unplanned. She had already had four boys (two between Raj ji and Shammi died young), and then my mum and my dad always prayed for a girl. In 1933, my sister Urmilla was born, that was a family and my parents were quite happy."
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Shashi ji had further revealed why his mother had wanted to get rid of him and had said, "Suddenly, after five years, my mother discovered that she was expecting and it was very embarrassing for her. She tried her best to get rid of me. Of course, those were old times and there wasn't anything like abortion. She used to tell me that she would keep falling off bicycles, down steps, have quinine, but Shashi Kapoor was stubborn. There was a future. So, I'm a fluke actor, a fluke star and a fluke person."
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Talking about the phase when he was in a complete emotional mess, Shashi ji had shared, “I wasn't feeling very happy about my Matric results and I realized that I was in an emotional mess. When I was sent to Barnes School in Deolali, it was Shammi ji who came to drop me there. Afterwards, I sent a suicide note: ‘The food is not good. I don't like it here. If you don't get me out of here, I'll commit suicide'. My mother told Shammi to bring me back. Khanaa achcha hona chahiye. Shammiji was very soft with me."
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Shashi ji will always live in our hearts!