Shashi Kapoor Movies
During the '70s and '80s, Shashi Kapoor was one of the most popular movie stars in India. The brother of beloved comedian Raj Kapoor and the youngest son of famed director Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi is best known internationally for his appearances in Merchant-Ivory productions such as Shakespeare Wallah (1965) and Heat and Dust (1982). All told, Kapoor has worked on over 200 films internationally and in India. He was married to the late Jennifer Kendal, an actress whose parents, Geoffrey and Laura, headed the contemporary British theater troupe Shakespeareana. In 1978, Kapoor and his wife, who shared a longtime love of theater, fulfilled a longtime dream of his late father, whose troupe -- Kapoor once acted with the Hindi theater company, established by his father in 1944 -- eventually joined with the Kendal troupe to form the Prithvi Theatre. This served to build a special center to promote India's performing arts by establishing the Shri Prithviraj Kapoor Memorial Trust and building the Privithi Theatre in Bombay. It has since become one of the country's centers of cultural arts. It is also is home to the Prithvi Festival, the most important film festival in India. ~ Sandra Brennan, 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
- Starring:
- Amitabh Bachchan
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
- Starring:
- Shashi Kapoor, Simi Garewal, (more)
Bombay Talkie was, together with Shakespeare Wallah, the property that brought worldwide recognition to the Merchant-Ivory filmmaking team. Jennifer Kendal plays a British writer, seeking out new adventures in India. The writer comes across actor Shashi Kapoor and his director Zia Mohyeddin and has romantic relations with both, thereby opening up a culture-clash can of worms. The script is by Merchant-Ivory perennial Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Kendal, Shashi Kapoor, (more)
- 1968
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
- Starring:
- Hayley Mills, Trevor Howard, (more)
Lizzie (Felicity Kendal) is an actress in a Shakespearean theater troupe that has seen better days. The troupe tours India to dwindling crowds who are less interested in all things British in the wake of Indian independence. When she has an affair with the Indian playboy Sanju (Shashi Kapoor), Lizzie feels the wrath of her disapproving father Tony (Geoffrey Kendal) and her mother Carla (Laura Liddell). Madhur Jaffrey plays the role of the Indian actress Manjula in this romantic drama with musical score from Satyajit Ray. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shashi Kapoor, Felicity Kendal, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Shashi Kapoor, Leela Naidu, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Nargis, Raj Kapoor, (more)
Future Bollywood master Raj Kapoor makes his directorial debut with this loosely autobiographical drama. The film centers on Kewal (Kapoor), a lad hailing from the country who has a gruesome self-inflicted scar across his face and a passionate yearning to build a theater. After his father brutally casts him out of the house, Kewal scrapes together some money and builds a theater, which eventually features his beloved, the beautiful singer Nimmi (Nargis). Featuring heavy usage of expressionistic light and camerawork, the film recalls the Bombay Talkie films of Franz Osten. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
