Conversations Over Chai: Shammi Kapoor

Romance and Shammi Kapoor go hand in hand. Once he broke through to the big league with Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Shammi didn’t look back. It helped that the era was ripe for change; the privations of the decade following independence were a thing of the past. The nation-building exercise that a fledgling country just free of the yoke of its colonial masters demanded was replaced by the dreams and ambitions of a youthful demographic that wanted a little less reality and a little more romance and escapism. Enter a new breed of filmmakers who were excited about the changing landscape of the motion picture industry.

It was the moment Shammi had been waiting for, for many years. Grabbing the opportunity, he burst onto the scene with unbridled enthusiasm. He positioned himself as the youthful rebel, whose trademark bonhomie and loose-limbed grace became his calling card. He romanced his heroines through hills and valleys, fought villains who would try to claim his beloveds and/or his inheritance, and became the aspirational hero for the new generation.

In an earlier post, I spoke about his romantic solos; here, he’s joined by his beautiful heroines in duets that speak of love – not unrequited love, not teasing or playful, not duets that mourn heartbreak. No. These are songs that speak of a love given and returned in full measure, soulful songs that make hearts burst with emotion, songs that make you feel the full extent of the characters’ feelings... And once again, ten duets, ten films, ten heroines – in no particular order, though my favourites – as always – tend to cluster towards the top of the list.

Rajshree
Raat yun dil mein
Janwar (1965)
Music: Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics: Faiz Ahmed ‘Faiz’
When you think of Shammi Kapoor, you think of a manic energy that reaches out and pulls you into the scene. But one has only to see Shammi in his romantic avatar to realise just how restrained he could be, how earnest, how subdued… There’s an intensity to his expressions that makes you believe he’s in love, wholly and truly, a sincerity in his brown eyes and the passion he evokes is sublime. But, how Rajshree’s character can look into those eyes and quote poetry back at him beats me!

Raat yuun dil mein teri khoyi huyi yaad aayee
Jaise veeraane mein chupke se bahaar aa jaaye
Aise sehraaon mein haule se chale baad-e-naseem
Jaise beemar ko bewajah qaraar aa jaaye
(Your fading memories steal into my heart at night
Like Spring that blooms stealthily in the [barren] wilderness
Like a gentle breeze that wafts over deserts bleak
Like peace comes - without cause - to an ailing man)

Raat yun dil mein has to be one of the most romantic duets ever, even if it is recited, not sung. Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry is both soulful and tender. What’s interesting is that this ‘poem’ is a combination of several of Faiz’s poetry – the first quatrain is a qita, the second quatrain is from his nazm, Nisar main teri galiyon ke, and the third quatrain from his ghazal, Tum aaye hon na shab-e-intezaar guzri hai.

The next three couplets, similarly, are from three different sources: the first of these is part of his qita titled Tire jamaal nigaahon mein uttha hoon; the next she’r is from his ghazal, Sham-e-firaaq ab na puuchh aayi aur aa ke tal gayi; and the final couplet is from his ghazal, Wafaa-e-va’ada nahin va’ada-e-digar bhī nahin. It's all beautifully combined to make up this piece of poetry.

Sharmila Tagore
Deewana hua baadal
Kashmir ki Kali (1964)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: SH Bihari
This song follows a tender scene between Rajiv (Shammi Kapoor) and Champa (Sharmila Tagore) as she bids him farewell after spending a day together. He doesn’t want her to leave, but she promises to come again the next day. What’s the use, he ripostes, when she will leave again? Champa is gently teasing when she tells him he’s quite crazy. Yes, he replies, but so are the hills and the vales, the flowers and… the clouds.

Deewana hua baadal is one of my favourite duets from this film; the other, of course, is Isharon isharon mein dil lene waale. There’s something incredibly romantic about this gentle, ruminative duet, which tells of their feelings for each other. While she sings of the storm of emotions that have risen in her since they first met, and how, like a twig in a storm she’s just being swept along, he’s thanking the universe for bringing her into his life.
Aaj naye armaanon se aabaad mere dil ki nagri
Barson se khizaan kaa mausam tha
Veeraan badi duniyaa thi meri
Haathon mein tera aanchal, aaya ke bahaar aayi
Ye dekhke dil jhoomaa, li pyaar ne angdaayi
(My heart, today, is filled with new desires
Bleak as my life has been for many years
And my world a mere wasteland
But now that you are near at hand
It’s as if Spring has arrived
And my heart skips with joy as my love is aroused…)

Sadhana
Tumne pukaara
Rajkumar (1964)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Suman Kalyanpur
Music: Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics: Shailendra
When Bhagatram (Prince Bhanupratap/Shammi Kapoor) disguises himself as a yogi (looking and sounding exactly like his father) to discover the truth behind a murderous plot, he leaves Princess Sangita (Sadhana) bereft.
When her handmaiden tells Sangita of a divine yogi who might be able to help her, the latter goes to beg him to bring back her lost love. The ‘yogi’ tells her to go to the place where she had first met this young man; her call will not go unanswered.

And so, we get this lovely melody, with Rafi’s part-recitation, part-singing, interspersed with Suman Kalyanpur’s lilting voice. Who can resist Shammi when he recites (Rafi sounding remarkably like Shammi’s speaking voice here):
Naam raushan hai tumhin se mere afsaane ka
Zindagi naam hai ulfat mein jiye jaane ka
Tum agar hum ko na milte to ye soorat hoti
Log le jaate janaaza tere deewaane ka

If he had never met her, he says, they might be carrying his bier away.

Chori chori ik ishaara ho gaya hai
Basant (1960)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Qamar Jalalabadi
This is the only song on this list where the lovers sing separately. It is, however, as romantic as the other songs on this list. Ashim (Shammi Kapoor) has helped Meenakshi (Nutan) on her journey and helped her return home safely. On the way, Meenakshi has had a change of heart; having left her home to marry Rajesh (Pran), she falls in love with the handsome stranger who helps her without a hidden agenda.

But Ashim is wary; she was another man’s fiancée. She’s changed her mind once, what if this is just another infatuation? So, they decide to part and meet again after a month. If their love is true, it can withstand the absence. If not, well, it was never meant to be. The clincher to the deal, of course, is that if either of them changes their mind, the other will not question the decision. But as they part, the attraction they feel for each other spills out in this lovely melody.

Asha Parekh
Pyar ki qasam hai na dekh aise pyaar se
Dil Deke Dekho (1959)
Singer: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
Music: Usha Khanna
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
When Raja (Shammi Kapoor) and Nita (Asha Parekh) first meet, sparks – not the romantic kind – fly. Eventually however, their sparring turns into attraction, and then, love. Unfortunately, there’s a fly in the ointment – Kailash (Rajendranath). But Nita musters up enough courage to tell Jamuna (Sulochana Latkar), her guardian, that she would like to marry Raja instead. Jamuna seemingly gives in, and Nita hurries off to find Raja to tell him of the good news. She finds him writing a goodbye letter to her; he’s given up his job. But her news gives the lovers something to smile about, and hence, Pyar ki qasam hai na dekh aise na dekh aise pyaar se…

For all its playfulness, there is the promise of fidelity, the belief that their love is strong enough to weather obstacles, and the confidence to state out loud that, yes, here stands their beloved. It's a light melody, Asha is pretty, and Shammi? He's just gorgeous.

Meena Kumari
Kehta hai dil tum ho mere liye
Mem Sahib (1956)
Singers: Talat Mahmood, Asha Bhosle
Music: Madan Mohan
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishan
In one of his rare outings as a villainous cad, wooing a young woman for her wealth, Shammi is pitch-perfect. When Meena (Meena Kumari), a wealthy heiress, advertises for a bridegroom, the city’s impecunious young men flock to her door. Among them is a man who is intelligent enough, not just to chase his rivals away, but to also charm Meena into thinking he loves her. So, when Sundar (Kishore Kumar), the man she’s affianced to from childhood makes an appearance, she’s unrepentant.

Even if he’s a cad who’s faking his love for Meena, Shammi is devastatingly gorgeous and seemingly sincere. So much so, he looks deep into her eyes when she asks: Kaho ji tumhaari
tamanna hai kya and respond, without batting an eyelid, "Nahin chaahiye kuchh tumhaare siwa". Bad Shammi!

For a change, Shammi is lip-syncing to Talat Mahmood and Madan Mohan's charming melody is a delight.

Bina Rai
Ek to surat pyaari
Vallah Kya Baat Hai (1962)
Singer: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
Music: Roshan
Lyrics: Prem Dhawan
I watched Vallah Kya Baat Hai with Shalini a while ago, and we were both quite impressed with Bina Rai’s character in the film, though we spent a lot of time saying, “Who knows why?” Unfortunately, this song was cut in the print we watched (“Who knows why?”) and so I can’t tell you the context. Suffice it to say that Shammi plays a man who lives by his wits while Bina Rai plays a reporter out to expose crime and criminals.

Ek to surat pyaari sees another unusual collaboration; we have Roshan composing the music for a Shammi Kapoor film instead of the usual suspects like Shankar-Jaikishan and OP Nayyar. Unfortunately, Roshan Sr lifted this tune, lock stock and barrel from Rose, Rose, I love you. That said, I must confess to liking his plagiarised version better than the original, so I wonder what that says about me!

Shakila
Ye rang na chhutega
China Town (1962)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle
Music: Ravi
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
While Shekhar (Shammi Kapoor) is an undercover cop, he keeps up the pretence of being Michael (Shammi, again). Once, he makes an assignment with Rita (Shakila), his girlfriend, but is forced to meet a gang member at the same time to collect the opium from him. Accosted by the cops (whom he has called), he cons the gang members into using Rita’s car as a getaway vehicle. Rita is furious at the idea that her boyfriend is a smuggler. While they wait at an inn (run by the delightful TunTun) for the cops, Shekar tries his best to convince her of his respectability, to no avail.

But when Inspector Dutta (Kanu Roy) arrives and matters are cleared up, all her annoyance at Shekhar’s cloak-and-dagger antics disappears like a will-o’-the-wisp. But she also complains about TunTun having forced her to put sindoor on her forehead, so Shekhar reaches out to rub it off. Coyly, she pulls away to sing Ye rang na chhutega/ulfat ki nishaani hai...

Mala Sinha
Mujhe kitna pyaar hai tumse
Dil Tera Deewana (1962)
Singers: Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar
Music: Shankar-Jaikishan
Lyrics: Shailendra
Dil Tera Deewana was mostly a hit-or-miss affair for me; I loved Shammi and even Mala Sinha in this film, but two Mehmoods were more than I could bear. In a nutshell, Mohan (Shammi Kapoor) is sent off by his despairing father to his old Army friend to have some discipline instilled in him. Instead, Mohan switches places with his pal, Anokhe (Mehmood). But the two of them soon find themselves in a quandary when Mohan’s parents come to meet their son. After having successfully (if comically) escaped from closer scrutiny of their fraud, Mohan celebrates with his lady love, Meena (Mala Sinha).

This tender love duet is one of my favourite songs from this film (the other being the lovely Nazar bachaakar chale gaye woh). Just look at his expressions when he sings:
Chaahat ne teri mujhko kuchh is tarah se ghera
Din ko hain tere charche raaton ko khwaab teraa
Simply melting!

Ragini
Jaan-e-jigar yun hi agar
Mujrim (1958)
Singers: Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi
Music: OP Nayyar
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri
I recently watched Mujrim with Shalini. We ooh-ed and aah-ed over how handsome Shammi Kapoor was. We also decided that Shammi was too gorgeous to be locked up (but that he deserved to be). That’s because Shankar (this Shammi) is a bad man who has taken the place of his lookalike. He’s also lying to Uma (Ragini) and Shobha (Shubha Khote). But… he’s seriously in love with Uma and this delightfully trippy OPN melody has both actors at their graceful best. Despite the exuberance, there’s still that heart-stopping romance that we have to come to expect of Shammi.