SHASHI KAPOOR THE HOUSEHOLD, THE STAR

India’s first biography of
Shashi Kapoor sheds light on one of the country’s most enigmatic
personalities—an actor who straddles the worlds of commercial Hindi cinema,
theatre and small-budget art movies; who is, at once, an earnest householder
and a committed star. In this rare book, we are offered glimpses of Shashi
Kapoor, the family man—son of Prithviraj Kapoor, husband of Jennifer Kendal,
and father to Kunal, Karan and Sanjna. We are led through Shashi Kapoor’s
film career—his debut as a bright-eyed child-actor in Awara; his emergence,
in the hectic 1970s, as India’s busiest performer—with a slew of hits
including Deewaar and Trishul; and his rise to international prominence with
Merchant–Ivory’s The Householder and a ‘trilogy’ of films on older men with
fading pasts. Equally, we are provided with an astute analysis of Shashi
Kapoor, the businessman—the proprietor of Film-Valas; the producer of Shyam
Benegal films; and the distributor of Bobby. With luminous and thus-far
undisclosed stories by the actor’s family (Neetu Singh, Rishi, Sanjna and
Kunal Kapoor), co-stars (Shabana Azmi, Simi Garewal, Sharmila Tagore),
colleagues (Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalani, James Ivory, Hanif Kureishi,
Aparna Sen), and friends; a compelling foreword by Karan Johar; and stunning
photographs from Merchant–Ivory’s archives, Shashi Kapoor, the biography—by
one of India’s best-known film journalists—is as captivating as Shashi
Kapoor, the star.