A careful look at the Hindi film industry in the 1960’s and 1970’s reveals that during this highly eventful period, the iconic Shashi Kapoor had established himself as an artiste par excellence courtesy his debonair personality and of course top-notch acting abilities. Now, nearly three decades after the release of his last full-fledged film, the actor is back in the limelight courtesy the release of his biography. In it, we are given a close and in-depth look at various aspects of his life.
And one such aspect is his relationship with wife Jennifer Kendal. As it so happens, the two met while Shashi was working with his father Prithviraj Kapoor’s Prithvi Theatres. According to Jennifer’s dad Geoffrey Kendal, a management company had made the mistake of double booking the stage to Shakespeareana and Prithvi. A decision was eventually reached that the two companies would perform on alternate days. And it was on the evening of the Prithvi performance that Shashi saw Jennifer through the stage curtains.
Thereafter, the Deewar star introduced himself to Jennifer and hence began their courtship.
‘The next afternoon, I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant, watching Jennifer and Shashi fall in love over their noodles. They would stay together till she died, through thick and sometimes very thin […] She had met in Shashi the man she wanted forever” states Jennifer’s sister Felicity.
However, Shashi’s fondness for Jennifer did not go down too well with Geoffrey. Things soon turned so ugly that Jennifer was forced to confront him.
“Daddy has told me that it isn’t Shashi he objects to, or the fact that he is Indian, or that he is younger that I am […] It is just that he doesn’t want us to leave the company […] I wish that he would understand that all children grow up and want to leave!” she confided in Felicity thereafter.
The two lovebirds finally received some strong support from Shashi’s brother Shammi and his wife Geeta Bali. They eventually spoke to their parents who agreed to let the lovebirds tie the knot.
However, Geoffrey refused to budge. This resulted in Jennifer’s exit from his group. Thereafter, the two lovebirds were left to fend for themselves. In fact, on one occasion they were stranded in Malayasia without any money and returned only after Raj Kapoor helped them out.
After these events, the two finally got married in 1958. As expected, Geoffrey did not attend the wedding. However, he finally put differences aside when the couple’s son Karan was born.
Thereafter, things seemed to be pretty fine for the couple. Moreover, Jennifer even took it upon her to ensure that their kids got a normal life away from the stardom. After being married for several years their world turned upside down when in 1983 Jennifer was diagnosed with cancer. Pretty soon the cancer spread and her health began declining. And then in 1984 she passed away leaving a void in Shashi’s life. As expected, he was devastated by this loss. However, he continued doing films even after her demise. But, according to Shashi’s colleagues, he wasn’t the same person anymore.
“Jennifer occupied a large part of his personality. And they merged. With Jennifer gone, Shashi struggled, but couldn’t find himself. I met him in London over dinner with Ismail Merchant and could see that he was floundering. He was different—not himself.” Says Simi Garewal. Moreover, her death also took a toll on his health. In many ways, these events proved that Shashi and Jennifer were soul mates in the purest sense of the word. A couple made for each other.
(Excerpted with permission of Rupa Publications India from the book Shashi Kapoor: The Householder, the Star by Aseem Chabbra)
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