The stage was set for Shammi Kapoor...

Much before he mastered those Elvis Presley-meets-James Dean moves for his silver screen avatar, the late Shammi Kapoor took baby steps into the world of acting during his encounters with theatre. Here's a look at the superstar's humble beginnings

The stage was set for Shammi Kapoor...

While reams are being written eulogising the late Shammi Kapoor's contribution to Indian cinema, especially during the roaring '50s and '60s all that one knows about the veteran actor's theatre connection is that he once worked for his father's theatre troupe, Prithvi Theatres. His profile on junglee.org.in (the Kapoor family website that the actor maintained) includes barely four lines on how the young actor joined his father's troupe in 1948 as a junior artiste on a salary of Rs 50, progressed to a salary of Rs 300 by 1952 and eventually, gave up theatre for silver screen success.

Shammi Kapoor with his father Prithviraj Kapoor, seen here after a show
of the play Pathan, produced by Prithvi Theatres.
Pic courtesy / Shammi Kapoor: The Dancing Hero

Stage Call
We decided to dig deeper for insights into Shammi Kapoor's initiation as an actor and discovered interesting anecdotes in theatre chronicler Deepa Gahlot's biography of the actor called Shammi Kapoor: The Dancing Hero. Thanks to Prithviraj Kapoor, Bollywood's first family's association with theatre goes back many, many years as seen through this excerpt from Gahlot's biography: "Shammi, like his brothers Raj and Shashi, was not raised like a privileged star kid.u00a0 Their father's theatre troupe used to travel in second class compartments, camp at ordinary lodgings, sleep on the floor and eat the same food that the lowliest of backstage workers ate. The Kapoor brothers are all fond of food, drink and the good life, they are all warm and hospitable,
but have never forgotten the austerity of their childhood and youth."

Acting and theatre were always a priority for the family. Another incidentu00a0 highlighted in Kapoor's biography talks of the time when elder brother Raj Kapoor preferred that Shammi leave a school rather than give up on theatre. "A favourite anecdote of the Kapoor family is about the time Shammi was in school. He would appear on stage in Shakuntala (in the role of Bharat) at night and be groggy in class the next day. The principal sent a note asking to see his father. Prithviraj Kapoor was busy so Raj Kapoor went instead. The principal said the child had to choose between studies and stage. Without missing a beat, Raj asked his kid brother to fetch his bag and left the school. Shammi was then admitted to New Era School, from where ultimately he did his matriculation. He took up Science in college (Ruia College, Mumbai), hoping to become an Aeronautical Eng-ineer. Fond of the outdoor life, he also applied for a job at a tea estate in Assam. Fortun-ately, he changed his mind, dropped out of college and followed in the footsteps of his father and brother."

The actor also had a decent singing voice and hence, he was cast in plays easily. Ironically, despite the fact that film journalists and critics discuss how the audience never quite accepted Shammi Kapoor in a negative role, it was his character as a rich, spoilt brat in one of Prithvi Theatres' plays that got him his first big break in the film Tumsa Nahin Dekha. The incident is recorded in The Prithviwallahs, written by Shashi Kapoor and Gahlot. "One of the last plays that Prithvi Theatres did was Ramanand Sagar's Kalakar, in which Shammi Kapoor played a negative character who seduces the heroine of the play. Producer S Mukherjee of Filmistan Studio, director Nasir Hussain and music composer OP Nayyar were thoroughly impressed with Shammi Kapoor's performance and signed him on for Tumsa Nahin Dekha," says Gahlot, drawing reference from
The Prithviwallahs.

With inputs from Shammi Kapoor: The Dancing Hero, published in 2009 by The Wisdom Tree; The Prithviwallahs, published in 2004 by Roli Books

The elder Kapoor siblings took up smoking during their theatre days. In the play, Deewar, a young Zohra Sehgal was playing a foreign lady who would have to smoke on stage. Raj, Shammi and Shashi were part of the play through the years. Raj and Shammi would wait in the wings for Sehgal to come backstage so that they could puff on the remainder of her cigarette and that's when they took to the habit.