The news of prestigious Dada sahib Phalke Award to be given to veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor is most welcome. Some of his movies like Jab Jab Phool Khile, Sharmilee , Kabhi Kabhi , Deewar , Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Haseena Maan Jategi etc , which I happened to watch , made me his ardent fan . He truly stepped into his great father’s shoes making theatre his passion and acting his vocation. Together with his English wife, the late Jennifer Kendall , he nurtured and enriched theatre by staging many plays. On a personal note, the very mention of Shashi Kapoor takes me back to two decades plus in timeline , when I used to sing a song from his movie Jab Jab Phool khile- Ek tha Gul aur ek thi Bulbul – as a lullaby to put my kids to sleep. I think more than my singing it was the duration of the song , that had the desired effect , as perhaps the kids at that time could hardly appreciate the lyrics or the music at that time .However the song is my all time favourite.
Kudos to the great actor for his acting talent and contribution to Hindi cinema !
