MUMBAI: Legendary Bollywood heartthrob Shammi Kapoor, whose acting and dancing style heavily influenced modern-day Indian film stars, died on Sunday aged 79.
"Shammi Kapoor ji passed away this morning at 5:15 am," Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan wrote on Twitter, using the Hindi honorific, saying Kapoor brought had "flamboyance and joie de vivre" to the screen.
Nikhil Gangavane, a family friend who headed the official Shammi Kapoor fan club, said the actor was admitted to the private Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai earlier this week.
"He was on a ventilator for three or four days. He was having some chest infection, which he had had for the last one or two years. He died of renal failure this morning," Gangavane told AFP.
"He had been undergoing dialysis for the last six or seven years but developed complications."
Kapoor's dance performances in romantic hits like Tumsa Nahin Dekha" (You're One of a Kind, 1957), "Dil Deke Dekho" (Give Your Heart and See, 1959) and "Junglee" (Wild, 1961) earned him comparisons with US singer Elvis Presley.
Key to his success was his avid interest in music. Kapoor personally selected the songs he would dance and mime to, mindful that they needed to fit his exuberant on-screen style.
In doing so, he and singers like Mohammed Rafi provided some of the industry's most popular and memorable tunes.
In later years, as he withdrew from acting and direction, Kapoor became a champion of the Internet and was the founder-chairman of the Internet Users Community of India, maintaining a Facebook page and a Twitter account.
His own web site www.junglee.org.in profiled his famous family, the Kapoors, who have dominated Hindi-language cinema virtually since its inception.
He described himself on his Twitter account profile as a "Renaissance man, retired actor, computer buff".
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We Pakistanis will miss you too.
Very shocked news for Pakistan and India both. He was natural HERO.
What a wonderful actor he was !! His movies were so much fun to watch. I'll miss you Shammi ji. RIP.
Very sad to hear the death of my favourite star. He was a great actor and a wonderful personality. God bless his soul and peace to his family. He was a true jem. Thank you Shami for making our lives beautiful.
Very sorry to hear about Shami Kapoor. May God bless him in eternal peace. Ameen,
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayehi raji'oon. - To Allah we Belong and to Him we Return
Probably the most charismatic Indian actor of the 70s
Probably the only actor in Indian films (and the world?) to have film titles "conferred" on him. Professor, Junglee, Laatsaab, Prince, Rajkumar...............the list is long. whilst not a dramatic actor, it was his flamboyant, boyish, style that endeared him to audiences in India, and the globe............ .the songs that were playbacked for him (by Rafisaab), are probably the best ever sung by the crooner, for Shammi. A Best Actor award (Brahmachari) was about the only artistic award given to a man who gave audiences sheer delight! the "yahoo" man will be missed--------and fifty years after that song, one would swear that he was the original inventor (and owner) of yahoo- being a computer boffin, to boot! this also signals the end of the older Kapoor generation, and, with it, the RK label----------- with only Shashi the survivor!
@rock: And Pakistanis too will miss him. He always spoke of us in very loving manner and to our delight he is supposed to have always kept the "mitti" from his family's native city Peshawar with him. RIP Shamsher Sahib, we loved you and our prayers and thoughts are with your family at this sad occasion.
RIP. Legend. Naughty in younger days but spiritual in rest of his life. Indians will miss you a lot. Thanks a lot for your contribution to the film industry. Love you legend. We will cherish your entertaining gift.