Ik raasta hai zindagi, jo tham gaye to kuch nahin...

Divya Dutta

The Prithvi Theatre was decorated with mogras and candles, the place where his heart was. It was thronged by people who had loved him. Shashi Kapoor, the man who exuded charm and style. Who acted in a lot of commercial films but the ones he made were far ahead of his time. The one, who gave theatre and its people a place to belong—Prithvi.

I remember I had just joined the industry, and was meeting all filmmakers. One of them being Shashi Kapoor, who was planning to direct another film. I remember I and Sonali Bendre had gone to meet the charming Kapoor together. We were greeted graciously, with his famous dimpled smile. Though he didn’t look very well health wise, his zest was all there. I and Sonali were too busy just looking at him and absorbing the fact that we were meeting the Shashi Kapoor! But he was so humble, and he observed us staring at him, and he had a smile on his face. We were offered hot cups of tea and cookies. We shook hands with him and returned. All starry eyed!

Years later, I shook that hand again, at Prithvi, where Shashi ji used to sit for hours on his wheel chair. He couldn’t talk or respond. He would just nod. I sat next to him and kissed his hand. And he nodded. I could see a faint smile on his face. I went into a flashback. The man who did four shifts a day, working on four different movies simultaneously, spreading smiles , wooing the audience with his charm and dialogue delivery, dancing away to his famous steps, making movies he believed in....was now sitting on the wheelchair, just observing the world around. I held his hand tight and said bye to him.

It was a day of goodbye to him now that he was no more. His children were there—Kunal, Karan and Sanjana, meeting everyone with a smile. Yes, they were celebrating their father and his life. There was a beautiful audio-visual presentation of his films playing in the background. Everyone was lighting candles for him and there was prasad of halwa and chai! Prithvi Theatre was full of people who loved him, who had worked with him... everyone... because there was only one Shashi Kapoor, an era ended with him.I remembered my first visual of him as a child. It was Kalapatthar. A very handsome man sat on a bike and sang a song with a bright smile on his face, “Ik raasta hai zindagi, jo tham gaye to kuch nahin...” That face, beautifully etched on my mind, and that smile...Adieu, Shashi Kapoor...

            (Dutta is a Bollywood actress)