lunchtime poll #9: regrettable Shashi pictures
This week, alert reader and beloved fellow Shashizen Temple and I have been discussing which of the following images from the vast, impressive collection of Karen is the most...shall we say "unfortunate." In honor of Temple, a mild beverage warning is issued (that is, if you're drinking something, put it down before proceeding, just to be on the safe side). These are not the most outrageous 70s publicity photos you'll find in Karen's awesome stash - so far, I'd give that award to this one - but they are amusingly outside the Shashi Kapoor versions of refined gentleman/charming bourgeois smoothie/upright cop or army officer/nawab/lovable bumpkin we tend to see in films.
What say you, readers? Which glamor shot should be the last one to be ordered in wallet size for all his friends?
Update (October 14, 2009)! I can't believe I forgot this one!
In my opinion, this is by far the least cheezoid - clothing is both present and normal - but it's still so...hey baby. Perhaps it's stage 0 of the semi-scandalous sequence of which the batik sarong photo is stage 5.
- eau de banjo player in the Lawrence Welk band
The right and left sides of his hair seem to be doing totally different things; granted, sometimes this is the way of things for those of us with naturally curly or wavy hair. Far more jarring - and easily controlled - are the collar and bow tie. Whatever year this may be, they are too big, yet somehow the tie manages to obscure his right collar almost entirely. Asymmetrical badness! (Note I am not claiming this to be the worst ever picture of Shashi Kapoor - the bow tie caught my eye as totally ridiculous, and the more I looked at the photo, the weirder it all seemed.) (Aside: while googling around for an image of a banjo player on The Lawrence Welk Show, I encountered a blog post titled "Turkish Star Wars, Lawrence Welk, and other strangely wonderful things," which is a combination of concepts I never expected to encounter and is too great not to share.) - beery leery
Just too, too cheesecake for words. Stylistically acceptable for Ranjeet, perhaps, but not for Shashi. - Sarong? So wrong.
So many questions: What is that book about and why is it a thing that makes him go hmmmm? Is that the hand-on-mouth gesture you make when you're going hmmm? Is that a casting couch? Why the batik bottoms? Don't you wish they had put this outfit in the previous setting (if indeed this outfit was necessary at all)?
What say you, readers? Which glamor shot should be the last one to be ordered in wallet size for all his friends?
Update (October 14, 2009)! I can't believe I forgot this one!
In my opinion, this is by far the least cheezoid - clothing is both present and normal - but it's still so...hey baby. Perhaps it's stage 0 of the semi-scandalous sequence of which the batik sarong photo is stage 5.
Comments
But we have to remember this is the man who spent most of Satyam Shivam Sundaram prancing around shirtless - under a waterfall.
Dear Shashi, pls jump in time machine and stop. XOXO.
I wouldn't mind a wallet-sized pic of the first image, actually. It's bad, but in an endearingly cheesy way.
http://memsaabstory.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/candy-is-dandy/
Some of the comments there about it are pretty funny :)
I had one friend in college in those days who was mad over Shashi, and I seriously think you must be that friend's daughter or something - you share the same Shashi genes!
Now that you have opened the can of worms, I must admit that the first one is the worst of the lot and not because of the horrendous bow tie or the asymmetric curls, either. Its the fact that the face appears to be disproportionately larger than the rest of him. I actually liked the pool-side beery-leery one when Memsaab posted it, till someone commented (on the post) that he looked like he was about to burp! The sarong one isnt too bad if the pictures on the wall are disregarded. He is in a designer lungi which would NEVER be worn on a poolside. And the thumb-to-mouth gesture probably is his way of wondering who would believe that he can read Chinese/Japanese. ;-)
I didn't think the beer one was that bad until I read the burp comment!!!!
But today I have one question. Do you know any film, in which Hema Malini (or any other beautiful actress from 70s) appears in traditional Indian clothes near the temple? (I'm making a video for youtube using Bizet's "Au fond du temple saint".)
Elsa
Elsa - Ummm.... Hmmm. Well, off the top of my head, there's certainly Zeenat in Satyam Shivam Sundaram. I'll keep thinking!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPbLyrUDv8o
Beth: Yes, I remember SSS and Zeenat, but I would like a woman in a little bit richer clothes :)
Okay I changed my mind then changed it back again. So I am still voting poolside but the sarong is a close second. However poolside still takes the cake.
Looking forward to the poll results here! Haha.