Shashi Kapoor Movies

Indian film icon Raj Kapoor directs this Oedipal family drama centering on Raju (Kapoor), the disaffected son of renowned Judge Raghuath (played by the director's father Prithvaraj Kapoor), who finds himself on the street pursuing a life of crime. Soon he runs into Jagga (K. N. Singh), the untouchable criminal who brought shame on his mother. Though he plots to kill both Jagga and Raghuath, Raju saves his real father, restoring his father's love for the lad and at the same time winning the heart of his one and only love Rita (Nargis). ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The Householder was the very first collaboration between producer Ismael Merchant and James Ivory. A pleasant, low-key domestic comedy, the film details the travails of a young married couple. The husband (Shashi Kapoor) had wanted no part of the arranged marriage in the first place: now he must not only deal with a virtual stranger for a wife, but also a passle of financial headaches. Despite the unfamiliarity of the surroundings, American filmgoers should recognize several universal truths in this touching tale. The script was the handiwork of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, adapted from her own novel; Jhabvala would remain a valuable member of the Merchant-Ivory aggregation. Offering an uncredited assist in the editing room was none other than legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Polly (Hayley Mills) is a shy young girl on a world tour with her impossible aunt (Brenda de Banzie). In Singapore, the ladies are entertained by their Eurasian guide (Shashi Kapoor). Polly begins an affair with the seductive guide, and upon the death of her aunt she finally comes out of her shell to blossom into full womanhood. Noel Coward had received some of the worst reviews in his life when he published the uncharacteristically bitter Pretty Polly and Other Stories; the film version of Pretty Polly substitutes sentiment for cynicism, but isn't much of an improvement over the Coward original. The film is better known under its American title A Matter of Innocence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Two-time director Conrad Rooks (known for his autobiographical drug-addiction opus of 1966, Chappaqua), helms this big-screen adaptation of Hermann Hesse's novel, about an Indian youth who leaves his family in search of life's meaning. The film sports location photography by Bergman associate Sven Nykvist, and a cast comprised largely of unknowns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Wall was the film that turned Amitabh Bachchan into the Hindi James Dean. In this complex story, told primarily in flashback, two brothers, Vijay (Bachchan) and Ravi grow up in a working-class urban area. As they enter adulthood, their lives take two entirely different directions. Vijay becomes a smuggler, posing as a businessman, and his money helps his family through hard times. He meets and falls in love with an exotic dancer, Aneeta. Meanwhile Riva joins the police force, where he gets assigned to a case tracking down a smuggler. It turns out to be his brother. What follows is a hard-to-watch, entirely inevitable conflict between brothers, complicated by their dying mother. The tragic, bloody finish takes its cue from 1960s Asian gangster films. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide

Three men become unlikely heroes in the midst of a disaster in this grand-scale drama from India. Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) is a former Naval officer who, after a deadly episode at sea, was forced to leave the military in disgrace; humiliated and suicidal, Vijay has taken a job in a coal mine, relishing the dangerous work with an attitude that borders on the suicidal. Mangal (Shatrughan Sinha) is a convicted felon who escaped from custody and found work in the mine along side Vijay. And Ravi (Shashi Kapoor) is an engineer who is attempting to improve the deplorable conditions of the coal mines, but runs into severe interference from the mercenary owners of the facility. When disaster strikes at the mine, trapping hundreds of men below the surface, Ravi must devote all his strength, imagination, and courage to find a way to bring the men back to safety, while Vijay and Mangal struggle to help rescue their co-workers and find redemption under trying and perilous circumstances. Kaala Patthar was inspired by a real-life mining catastrophe, and director Yash Chopra brought in top-rank special-effects men from the United States to give the mine sequences the necessary realism. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Shiv Kumar is a responsible man who takes care of his wife and children, and devotes himself tirelessly to his job as a police officer. He also lives with his two directionless brothers, Ravi and Vijay, who eek out a living as con-men. Everything changes, however, when Shiv is killed. Angry and broken hearted at the loss of their brother, Ravi and Vijay turn over a new leaf, giving up their waywardness in order to hunt down the man who took Shiv's life. What they find, however, might be even more than these two ruthless men can handle. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide