He was his own special effect

Shammi Kapoor’s spontaneity in his dance moves and songs needed no post-production touches. Vandana Shukla recounts some memorable songs of the first playboy of the Hindi cinema

THE first playboy of Hindi cinema that Shammi Kapoor was had no role models to follow. So, he broke the mould of boring propriety of his contemporaries. He never followed the lines drawn for the camera, his cameramen had to be as swift as him to follow wherever his body led him, and it seemed to rebel against all the normal gravitational rules. He could jump into a lake, hang from a helicopter and roll down the Swiss Alps to win a damsel’s heart. And, he didn’t need a technical wizard for special effects; he was his own special effect.

In this foot- tapping number Shammi Kapoor glorifies the popular shake of the sixties by lending it a new style quotient. The song never got out of vogue where Shammi’s unpredictable moves are complemented by a happily plump Mumtaz, in a jugalbandi of body shake in Brahmchari, for which Kapoor received the Filmfare Best Actor Award.

"Deewana hua badal, sawan ki ghata chhai"

Shammi Kapoor’s angdai in this number from Kashmir Ki Kali, gave the word a complete re-interpretation when Kapoor stretched himself in a lovelorn stretch, wrapping his muffler suggestively around his neck. In another song from the same film, "Isharon isharon mein dil lene wale", you witness steps, miles apart from his yahoo and shake dance. Here, both Sharmila and Shammi break into graceful, measured steps of spontaneity. Kapoor uses his scarf and even a tree branch as prop to lend a special effect to the song.

In one of his most memorable numbers "suku suku", Kapoor’s energy and spontaneity finds a perfect match in Helen’s graceful steps. He enters the stage like a bullet and zips around with an unimaginable versatility of movements and beats. In the title song of Junglee, which gave him the tag name of `A0Yaahooo, it seems Kapoor’s unbound energy was waiting for the right rhythm to be released. With these numbers he created a fresh genre of dance, which was funny and entertaining, but never reduced itself to lecherousness, which became evident in some of his followers who tried to imitate him. `A0

In this number Kapoor plucks a guitar to glory. This became a style of the times. For this number from China Town he dons a moustache and introduces some inimitable steps. The genius with which he turns the weakness of his figure — a broader midriff — into a fashion statement — by donning jackets and scarves was as charming as the unique combination of his pair of passionate eyes with an innocent smile.

In one of the most romantic numbers filmed on Kapoor, sans his popular dance antics, he strolls around romancing a sari-clad Sharmila Tagore in a formal tuxedo on the roads of Paris in An Evening in Paris. The music is haunting and so is the gaze of our evergreen romantic hero of the Hindi cinema. In another song of the same genre "Ehsaan tera hoga mujhpar", an intensely spontaneous Kapoor serenades Saira Bano in her pre-beauty saloon prettiness of innocence.