Bollywood icon: Indian actor Shammi Kapoor dead at 79

He had been admitted to the private Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai within the last week.

MUMBAI: Legendary Bollywood heart-throb Shammi Kapoor, whose energetic acting and dancing style heavily influenced modern-day Indian film stars, died on Sunday aged 79.

Nikhil Gangavane, a family friend who headed the official Shammi Kapoor fan club, said the actor had been admitted to the private Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai within the last 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 said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2011.