Fun fact: Shashi Kapoor played Big B's younger brother despite being 5 years elder

Mumbai: Shashi Kapoor, the embodiment of romance and charm who wooed the top leading ladies of the ‘70s and ‘80s on the silver screen and captivated millions of fans, died in a private hospital on Monday.

His most memorable roles were in such films as Jab Jab Phool Khile and Kalyug. He also adored for his role opposite Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie, Namak Halal, Trishul, Suhaag and Kaala Pathar, among others. His line in Deewar, “Mere paas Maa hai” is one of Hindi cinema’s most famous.

Thanks to his youthful looks Kapoor often played Bachchan’s younger brother, despite being five years older than him.

His best known performances as a child actor were in Aag (1948) and Awaara (1951), where he played the younger version of the character played by Raj Kapoor. Shashi Kapoor also worked as assistant director in the ‘50s.

He made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film Dharmputra and went on to appear in more than 116 films during the ‘70s and until the mid ‘80s.

He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 2011 and received cinema’s prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award in 2015. Kapoor was among the first Indian actors to work abroad, with roles in Merchant Ivory films such as The Householder, and Shakespeare Wallah (1965). In 1958, Kapoor married English actress Jennifer Kendal.

Kendal died of cancer aged just 51 in 1984.