Thursday marks Shashi Kapoor's 83rd birth anniversary. He belonged to Bollywood's first family and was the youngest son of Prithviraj Kapoor’s three sons. The actor made his Bollywood debut as a child artist at the age of 10 in the film “Aag”. Shashi’s Bollywood career spans over 100 films including several blockbuster films like “Aa Gale Lag Ja, Deewar, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Kabhi Kabhi”.
Shashi Kapoor's real name was Balbir Raj Kapoor but his mother did not like this name so she called her Shashi. As a child artist, Shashi acted in Aag (1948), Awara (1951), Sangram (1950) and Dana Pani (1953). He gained stardom from his first debut as a lead actor in the Yash Chopra film “Dharmaputra”, 1961. Henceforth, his successful Box Office journey had numerous blockbuster movies.
Shashi tried to negotiate with Jennifer after their first meeting. Due to his shy nature, Jennifer thought of him to be gay. Shortly this misunderstanding also got dispelled. When Shashi fell in love, he was just 18 years old and Jennifer was 5 years older than him. This age gap could not take the edge off their love and both got married in the year 1958. Shashi was just 20 years old and Jennifer was 25 at this time.
Despite having a golden aura in the Bollywood industry, he had seen many peaks and valleys. Shashi used to work in 6 different shifts due to his multiple projects working together. But the time came when he stopped getting work. Due to the economic crisis, he had to sell goods to run a house. He put on sale his household furnishings for his living.
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In an interview, Shashi’s son Kunal Kapoor revealed that due to troubled financial constraints his father had to sell his favourite sports car. Being his support, mother Jennifer also started selling her valuables. The actor totally broke down and went into depression after his wife Jennifer died.
After a long ailment, the actor died in 2017 at the age of 79. His death was a shock to the film industry and to his millions of fans.