Shashi Week: fin*

Believe it or not, I had originally intended that Shashi Week would be, among other things, intellectual encouragement for me to stop taking screen captures and attempt some more verbally and conceptually analytical posts. But I realized as the week went on that having seen "only 40" of his films really didn't feel like enough to try to intelligently tackle ideas like "Shashi Kapoor: before he was a big star" or a comprehensive look at his 70s hero roles or an ethnography of "the good brother," all of which I would like to investigate (someday!). Maybe by this time next year I'll feel more qualified and have more original source material under my belt. And while the pictures are pretty, they're not just for staring - I really am interested in trying to figure out his star appeal, the facets of the icon, the meaning that this person holds in Indian cinema. What I'm trying to say is, I hope people got something out of Shashi Week other than "oooh, pretty!", because as magical as the Shashilicious curls are, that's honestly not the most significant thing I like about him as an actor and figure in film culture.

It is a total delight, but not at all a surprise, that the creative minds of Shashi Pradesh have bounced right up to make Shashi Week a sprawling, fantastic song picturization! Thank you thank you for all your wonderful posts, comments, and tweets! You made Shashi Week a zillion times more fun than it would have been with just me going through my archives. There is so much of dil squish in the universe, alive with Shashi pyaaaaar!

The other Shashi Week posts I've read so far are:
Antarra's Ramblings: favorite obscure songs
Apni East India Company: bouncy songs (playlist here)
Baba aur Bollywood: tragic experiences with Shashi DVDs (and general Shashi Week good vibes)
Bollywood Food Club: The Householder
Cindy's Bolly Blog: Shashi's smoothest subtitled lines
Doc Bollywood: Shashi Kapoor: overlooked but never overshadowed
Filmi Girl: favorite Shashi picturizations
Maria Kaefer: general Shashi Week goodness via links to her Shashi posts (in German)
Memsaab Story: Waqt
Old Is Gold: 10 favorite Shashi films, Shashi masala (Ek aur Ek Gyarah and Neeyat), and a hirsute comic adventure
Paint It Pink: Shashi's effect on other stars: the comic
Roti Kapada aur Rum: Shashi name meme

Shabshash, blogosphere! Shabshash!

Anybody else want this on a t-shirt?

Next up: back to the regularly scheduled programming of writing about individual films. I've got Tashan and my very own brand-new DVD of Manorama 6 Feet Under sitting on top of the tv and have managed to see Waqt, Neend Hamari Khwab Tumhare, and Dharmputra in the last week, so all of thsoe should be coming up soonish. I also have a lot to say about the biography The Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema, but my thoughts aren't going to be properly synthesized for awhile, especially because I'm having a hard time sorting out the writing and book from how pathetic all the male Kapoors seem during their low times.

* But in name only - it's always Shashi Week at Beth Loves Bollywood.

Comments

Anarchivist said…
YES, I want this on a t-shirt. This second!
Anonymous said…
What! Its over!!! :-( NAHIIIIIN

By this time next year, I'm sure you'll be qualified to write an authorised biography, not just an erudite essay on his roles! ;-)

And me too, on the T-shirt.
gebruss said…
I am glad it is over in name only, though I will miss all the pretty pictures. But then, I can come back and look at them in closer detail.

I suspect, given my reputation, I should really have this one on a T-Shirt:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/gebruss/Gair%20Kanooni/vlcsnap-00001.jpg

You really did a great job with all the themed posts.
This has been so much fun!
[sigh] shashi week should go on forever.

I think I can make that T-shirt. will try this weekend.
Anonymous said…
Thank you for this past week - it helped prove to my husband that I'm not as eccentric as he thinks I am :)

I'm also very interested in your review of The Kapoors...
Anonymous said…
I would love to have a serious, heavy, and endless conversation about the males of the Kapoor family and that book. I'll read it again.
Anonymous said…
Sorry that last post re: book was me, I didn't put my name on it in a way that stuck.
-- Virginia
Anonymous said…
Beth now that you put it this way
'I love Shashi with everyone, I love everyone with Shashi', I realise how true!! I don't have a fav. actress when it comes to Shashi Kapoor. He shined with all the ladies.
Just how amazing is Shashi!!
One thing which I always notice about Shashi is how sensuous he is in all his movie roles. In an era when sex was such a taboo subject, and Hindi movie actors behaved like it didnot exist(Rajendra Kumar, Dharmendra,Shammi Kapoor ..), it seemed like Shashi was well aware of the word 'sex' and potrayed his passion beautifully onscreen, even though it was subtle.
Beth, just an idea, please write about the 'sexy' heros of Hindi movies when the subject was such a taboo, and nobody wanted to potray the role of less than pure when it came to this subject.
Shashi and Rajesh Khanna are ideal candidates.May be Raj Kapoor, I cannot think of anyone else.
T-shirts for everyone!

bollyviewer - All good things must.... As for the bio, I'd have to interview him for that, wouldn't I! [Books plane ticket.]

gebruss - I would LOVE for you to have that on a shirt - or on a giant room-sized poster for your flat.

Shweta - Please show us your handiwork!

Aimee - Hee, I can almost always be trotted out as a measure of lunacy. As for the book, I hope to do it this weekend.

Virginia - I'll look forward to that conversation - it's a pretty sad topic, but it seems to have such impact on the lives of them and their families, let alone the careers.

Anonymous - Great minds! :)

That's an interesting point about Shashi expressing the sensuality of his roles. I don't know enough about the other actors you mention (or their films) to take on the topic really, but it's certainly interesting to think about. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few mainstream Bollywood roles in which Shashi certainly seems to flirt with the sensual side of his character; surely he was well aware of how handsome most people seemed to find him and just added that effect to his stock of tools as an actor? Also, I think his work in parallel cinema and foreign films seems to really demand that (or draw on it? or both?) - think how much sex there is in Merchant and Ivory's Heat and Dust, Shakespeare-Wallah, and Bombay Talkie, Conrad Rooks's Siddhartha, and Benegal's Junoon, where his character's lust is so strong that it unbalances him completely.

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