Shammi Kapoor Death Anniversary: Son Aditya Raj Kapoor Fondly Remembers His Father
On legendary actor Shammi Kapoor's death anniversary, his son Aditya Raj Kapoor pens an emotional note recalling his late father and mother, Geeta Bali
"Nothing can compare with my father. I once told my Dad
I look, walk and talk like him. But for my acting I want to be compared to my
mother (Geeta Bali). Now, I can only try to be a good human being. Besides that
I want to build a memorial for my parents. My first mother grew up in penury
and died before she could enjoy a good life. After my father's death, my
parents are united. You've no idea what happened when we took my father's body
to the cremation ground. God bless the administration for a supreme bandobast
in spite of it being 15th of August. I wanted my father to be cremated at Ban
Ganga because my mother (Geeta Bali) was cremated there. The send-off was
unbelievable. And the whole Kapoor clan coming together as one family...Who but
Shammi Kapoor could've managed this feat! There's a black-and-white photograph
we put up for the Chautha. It was the first picture of my dad, taken when we
moved into the house where I now live. We moved in when I was 3-years-old after
his first flush of success with the release of Tumsa Nahin Dekha. Looking at
that photograph, I remembered how much fun I had going for the shoots with him.
Even while I was away from home, people on the roads, wherever I was, would
sing his songs for me. When I was driving down to the cremation ground with his
body, people on the way had put his songs on loudspeakers. Chahe mujhe koi
junglee kahe was being played for the final send-off. The funeral process was
going very slowly because of the number of people. People peeped into the
ambulance, threw flowers inside and said 'Yahoo'. I am a deeply spiritual man.
I realised the power of a mantra long ago. I realised that my father's mantra
was 'Yahoo'. At that moment it dawned upon me...what being Shammi Kapoor's son
really meant....When I was six, my parents did the wisest thing. They got me
admitted into a boarding school, Lawrence School in Sanawar. Dad came every
year for Founders Day. Pran Saab and Sunil Dutt Saab also came because their
children were also there. Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) and Pran Saab's daughter Pinky in
fact came to meet me yesterday. Pinky was my local guardian-sister in Sanawar.
When I wanted more money I had to take her permission. My mother Geeta Bali, an
almost-uneducated woman, came to see me at the boarding school more often than
my father. My mother had given up her career and my father's had just started.
So she had more time to visit me. My mother was the original Sridevi. She
passed away when I was nine. The whole boarding school wept with me. She used
to mother all my friends. Those were not easy years for me. Mom was gone. Dad
had become so successful he had no time for me. Superstars today have organised
lives. In my father's time fans had no access to him through the Internet,
television or magazines. They'd barge into our home at any time. I was left
with no space that I could call my own with my father. It was my second mother
Neela Devi who made that space for me in our home. She devoted her life to my
father, and decided not to have any kids of her own because my sister and I
were already there. No Hindu woman would do this. From boarding school I used
to write threatening letters to my father. I used to tell him that I'd run away
from school. I told him he could marry any woman he wanted. But I had to have a
mother. Neela Devi filled that gap. She turned me from a wounded anguished
rebellious howling animal to a human being. Just goes to show, that a mother
makes the family.But I never stopped missing my mother Geeta Bali. My first and
second mothers were different people. Do you know, my second mother was a fan
of Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali. She once asked for an autograph and Geetaji
wrote, 'Remember M remember E, put them together and remember ME'. Geetaji
almost blessed Neela Devi as though she knew what was going to happen. Geetaji
was very adventurous. She was the only woman in the world who could punch my
dad and get away with it. She is the one who turned Shammi Kapoor into a star.
Before Geetaji, Shammi Kapoor was under the shadows of his father Prithiviraj Kapoor
and his brother Raj Saab. Geetaji brought that change of image. She made him
the 'Yahoo' star....My mother was gone in just 15 days. I had gone on location
in rural Punjab where she contracted smallpox. It was for a film called Rano,
which was later made with Rishi Kapoor and Hema Malini and titled Ek Chadar
Maili Si. At that time Dharmendra was playing Rishi's role and Mummy was
playing Hema's role. My mom had picked me up from boarding school and taken me
to the location. I spent the whole month with her. Then she fell ill. My father
left his own shoot and picked both of us up. Her condition got worse and
finally she died. Dad was doing Teesri Manzil at that time.The death of my
mother left me scarred. It took my second mother a good ten years to heal me.
By the time I was 17, I was a rebel without a cause I was going to make my film
debut. Then I found my spiritual guru. And he told me those life-changing words
- Leave The Film Industry. At that juncture when I was to be launched as a hero
under the RK Banner right after Rishi's was launched in Bobby, I left. I was
also assisting Raj Saab and preparing to be a film director. My father
questioned my decision over and over again. But I was adamant. My Guruji
instructed me to try my luck in entrepreneurship. He arranged for me to work
with a shipping magnate Yogendra Madhav Lal, then Rajan Nanda. Then I started
my own company. For 25 years I never looked at cinema. I stopped seeing films.
The temptation to return to the industry never left me. Even after my Guruji's
death, I didn't look back at the film industry. Only after I migrated to Dubai,
did I return to movies. Circumstances forced me to direct 300 episodes for a TV
serial. I directed my first English-language film, followed by two others. When
I returned to Mumbai at the age of 52, I became an actor...finally. My father
watched every single shot of mine in promos, trailers, films....At the age of
76, he played the role of my career guide and mentor...a role he would've
played when I was 19 had I not left the film industry. At my father's funeral
the entire Kapoor clan came together. The cycle was complete. My father allowed
me to go wherever I wanted and do whatever I wished. Today I've allowed both my
children the same freedom. My father wrote the manual for us to follow."
Image source: Youtube/GanneNayePurane