New chapter: Biography on Shashi Kapoor provides rich insights into his career, life

New Delhi: Chapters from the personal and professional life of the enigmatic Shashi Kapoor, that have hitherto remained unknown, are all set to come to the fore as a biography on the versatile actor is set for a release this month. Shashi Kapoor – the Householder, the Star, authored by film journalist Aseem Chhabra, attempts to delve into the life of Kapoor, who went beyond the advantages of being born into the first family of the Hindi film industry, to become a commercially viable and critically acclaimed star. [caption id=“attachment_2759686” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shashi Kapoor in his heyday. Image from IBNlive[/caption] Published by Rupa, the book offers glimpses of Kapoor, the family man — son of Prithviraj Kapoor, husband of Jennifer Kendal, and father to Kunal, Karan and Sanjna, even as it tracks the emergence of the star who made his acting debut in brother Raj Kapoor’s Awaara (1951) to one of the busiest performers in the 1970s. Kapoor, who was felicitated with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 2014, starred in films like Waqt, Deewar, Trishul as well as Junoon, Kalyug and Utsav. To be unveiled on 6 May 6, the biography also traces the affable Bollywood star’s forays into world cinema as also his pioneering works in the theatre circuit. Stakeholder to three National Film Awards, Kapoor outshone some of his contemporaries, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan and flamboyant Shatrughan Sinha, with his foreign ventures including the most famous — The Householder — besides Shakespeare Wallah, Heat and Dust, Bombay Talkie, among other British and American productions. The 216-page book, whose first edition goes on sale later this month, also takes into account the astute businessman that the suave superstar has been, citing among others his prowess as the distributor of Bobby, which launched his nephew Rishi Kapoor and also revived the debt-stricken RK Films, the production company founded by his eldest brother Raj Kapoor. The biography also highlights his enterprising skills as the founder of production company ‘Film-valas’ and producer of off-beat films like 36 Chowringee Lane, Vijeta and Ajooba, displaying his thrust on quality cinema irrespective of box-office returns. With luminous and thus-far undisclosed stories by the actor’s family, colleagues and friends, a compelling foreword by filmmaker Karan Johar, and stunning photographs from Merchant–Ivory’s archives, the biography is as captivating as Shashi Kapoor, the star.