ISBN: 9788129139702    Publisher: Rupa Publications India Year of publishing: 2015     Format:  HBK No of Pages: 216        Language: English

India's first biography of Shashi Kapoor sheds light on one of the country's most enigmatic personalities--
an actor who straddles the worlds of commercial Hindi cinema, theatre and small-budget art movies;
who is, at once, an earnest householder and a committed star.
In this rare book, we are offered glimpses of Shashi Kapoor, the family man--son of Prithviraj
Kapoor, husband of Jennifer Kendal, and father to Kunal, Karan and Sanjna. We are led through
Shashi Kapoor's film career--his debut as a bright-eyed child-actor in Awara; his emergence, in
the hectic 1970s, as India's busiest performer--with a slew of hits including Deewaar and Trishul;
and his rise to international prominence with Merchant-Ivory's The Householder and a 'trilogy' of
films on older men with fading pasts. Equally, we are provided with an astute analysis of Shashi
Kapoor, the businessman--the proprietor of Film-Valas; the producer of Shyam Benegal films; and
the distributor of Bobby.
With luminous and thus-far undisclosed stories by the actor's family (Neetu Singh, Rishi, Sanjna and
Kunal Kapoor), co-stars (Shabana Azmi, Simi Garewal, Sharmila Tagore), colleagues (Shyam Benegal,
Govind Nihalani, James Ivory, Hanif Kureishi, Aparna Sen), and friends; a compelling foreword
by Karan Johar; and stunning photographs from Merchant-Ivory's archives, Shashi Kapoor, the
biography--by one of India's best-known film journalists--is as captivating as Shashi Kapoor, the star.
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Aseem Chhabra is a film journalist, freelance writer and film festival programmer in New York City. He has been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Outlook, Mumbai Mirror, Rediff.com; has a regular column in The Hindu; and has been a commentator on Indian cinema and popular culture on NPR, CNN, BBC, as also ABC's Good Morning America, Associated Press and Reuters. Aseem is the festival director of the New York Indian Film Festival and the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival in Pittsburgh. He is also the voice of Shadow Puppet #1 in director Nina Paley's awardwinning animated film, Sita Sings the Blues. Aseem is from Delhi, lives in New York, and visits India often. He can be followed on Twitter @chhabs
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