Rafi and Shashi Kapoor.

Rafi and Shashi Kapoor

By: CR Chatterji.

Shashi Kapoor had to face huge competition in bollywood films in mid-60s, as stalwarts like Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor were still dominating the filmworld, and other stars like Rajender Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Raj Kumar, etc., had created their strong image in bollywood films. The combination of Rafi with Shashi Kapoor went a long way in cementing the place of Shashi Kapoor in bollywood films.

In Jab Jab Phool Khile, all the songs sung by Rafi and picturised on Shashi Kapoor became superhits including “pardesiyon se na ankhiyan milana”, “mai yahan ek ajnabee hoon”, “nana karke pyar” etc. The film was as successful as the songs composed by Kalyanji Anandji. Nanda also acted well opposite Shashi Kapoor in the film.

The film Pyar kiya Jaa, was based on comedy story. But the songs composed by LP and sung by Rafi for Shashi Kapoor including “gore hathon par na jhulm karo”, became very successful. The songs composed by RD Burman in Pyar Ka Mausam, for Rafi and Shashi Kapoor became big hits, including “ni sultana re pyar ka mausam aya” and “tum bin jayun kahan”. The performance of Shashi Kapoor and Asha Parekh were well appreciated by the audience.

All the songs composed by Shankar Jaikishan in the film Kanyadan for Rafi and Shashi Kapoor became extremely popular. Even the songs sung by Lata in the film picturised on Asha Parekh became successful.

In the 70s, Shashi Kapoor acted in mainly action films. Even during that time Rafi had sung hits songs like “ek dal par tota bole”, in the film Chor Machaye Shor, where the songs were composed by Ravindra Jain. Even in Shaan, in 1980, Rafi’s song “jaun meri jaan”, picturised on Shashi Kapoor, became hit, along with Kishore Kumar singing the same song for Big B.

Just like the other leading actors of the 60s and 70s, Shashi Kapoor is also indebted to Rafi for his success in acting career. The songs and the films should be preserved.

Shashi Kapoor – the romantic actor of bollywood.

Shashi Kapoor – the romantic actor of bollywood.

Shashi Kapoor is one of the successful actors of bollywood who had provided notable performance in both romantic and action films. He played the younger part of Raj Kapoor as a child artist in Aag, Awara, etc. He acted in a number of successful films opposite Nanda in the 60s, including Jab Jab Phool Khile, Need Hamari KJhwab tumhari, etc. The popular songs in these films, sung by Rafi. Lata, Asha, and others, had been the added attraction, including songs like “na na karke”, “paredeshiyon se na”,etc. The scenic beauty of Kashmir was also responsible for the success of the films. He also acted in a serio-comic film Pyar kiye ja, opposite Kishore Kumar and Mehmood, and the songs in the film like “gore haatho par”, “ramlal”, etc., were hit in addition to the success of the film.

In the 70s, Shashi Kapoor acted in a number of film along with Big B. In Deewar, in 1975, he acted as a police officer and the brother of a smuggler, played by Big B. both had started their life from the same platform and he was in the right path, which was the ideal path and his mother stayed with him for those reasons. He killed his brother in an encounter at the end of the film.


He also acted in an action thriller Shaan, along with Big B and Shatrughun Sinha. It also included the revenge that was taken against Shakaal, who had killed their brother played by Sunil Dutt and was involved in unlawful activities. In addition to performing in the commercial films, he also acted in few art films like Junoon, directed by Shyam Benegal and Vijeta, directed by Govind Nahalani. Junoon, was based on the independence movement during British rule, and Vijeta showed the story of a young boy, (his son), who joined Indian airforce and faced the challenges of life at different stages.


He did not imitate his elder brothers Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor, and created an own style of acting which was evident in films like Kala Patthar, Suhag, etc. Even in multi-starrer films like Waqt, he kept his mark along with Raj Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Balraj Sahani. It was a story where the 3 brothers were separated by an earthquake and were united at the end of the film.

He showed his romantic skills, action skills in most of his films and made notable contribution in bollywood films for more than 25 years. That is the reason why viewers still love to watch his films like Do Aur do Paanch, Namakhalal, etc.

Article By: Supriya Chatterji.