Veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor dies at age 79

Shashi Kapoor, the charming, romantic hero of numerous Indian films, has died at 79 years of age after a prolonged illness, according to relatives and doctors at a Mumbai hospital.

A family member, Randhir Kapoor, said Shashi Kapoor died on Monday in Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani, where he was being treated for a kidney ailment.

The Press Trust of India news agency said Kapoor will be cremated on Tuesday.

Kapoor acted in more than 100 Hindi films. He also appeared in a handful of British and American films produced by Merchant Ivory Productions, run by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.

He was the youngest son of Prithviraj Kapoor, a veteran of Bollywood and the theatre.

Kapoor belonged to a family of actors, producers and theatre personalities and started acting as a child in the late 1940s, in films produced by his father and eldest brother, Raj Kapoor.

He debuted as a leading man in Dharmputra in 1961, and his most memorable roles were in such films as Jab Jab Phool Khile (Whenever The Flowers Bloom, 1965), Kabhi Kabhie (Sometimes, 1976), and Kalyug (Age of Downfall, 1981).

In the 1970s and 1980s, Kapoor acted in a string of Bollywood hits, some of which he co-starred in with actor Amitabh Bachchan, including Deewar (The Wall, 1975) and Namak Halaal (The Loyal Servant, 1982) besides Kabhie Kabhie.

The English-language films Kapoor acted in include The Householder (1963) and Shakespeare-Wallah (1965) by Merchant Ivory Productions.

He was a producer of award-winning films like Junoon (The Obsession, 1978) and 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), which starred his wife, Jeniffer Kendall.

He was the recipient of India’s highest award in the film world, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Kapoor is survived by two sons, Kunal, a film director, and Karan, a photographer. His daughter Sanjana is a theatre personality.

Raj Kapoor, who died in 1988, was also a famous Hindi cinema actor. Randhir Kapoor is Raj’s son.