YAHOO!!
SHAMMI IS DEAD ! LONG LIVE YAHOO !
He was ‘Junglee’, ‘Janwar’, ‘Bluffmaster’, ‘Badtameez’, ‘ Professor’, ‘Prince’, ‘Brahmachari’, ‘Rajkumar’, ‘Latsahab’, ‘Majnu’,, and ‘Pagla Kahi Kaa’. Man , larger than life with western regal looks and Pathan leanage. An exotic charm. Referred lovingly by lovely ladies as Lord Byron!- the great romantic poet of England known for his irresistible looks which disarmed many.
Perhaps, one of the few actors whose screen persona so very much matched the off screen life. He was indeed quite wild and uncontrollable as the titles of his numerous films suggest; in his hay days of course.
I first saw him in a black and white film titled ‘Hum sab chor hain’, which was screened in our school hall. His thin moustache and neat and lean appearance I still remember. But, prior to that it was ‘Professor I had seen as a child of six in the cinema hall of Lansdowne. But, for the grand Darshan i had to wait for ‘Junglee’. It was at Palace theatre, civil lines at Allahabad that I saw the film and like the youth of that time and Saira on screen was swept away by the Yahoo! Storm. He was indeed the first dancing star- joy Mukherjee, Jitendra, Mithun and Govinda followed much late , even Shahrukh seems to be greatly influenced by Shammi.
Actors such as Dilip, Amitabh are known for their acting skills and therefore when we praise their performance we refer to the dialogues from their films. In case of Shammi the eternal image is of singing and dancing: ‘Yeh chand sa roshan chehra zulfon ka rang sunhera’ from ‘Kashmir ki Kali’, as he woos Sharmila singing on a Shikara. Teesri Manzil set the bench mark for musical thrillers , Shammi as Rocky the drummer who sings captivated us with many songs, specially ‘ O hasina zulfon wali jane jahan’ and ‘ Tumne mujhe dekha ho kar meharbaan, ruk gayi ye zameen tham gaya aasman jane man , jane jaan’. For, Brahmachari he won a filmfare award and was one of his last big hits is also known for its music, ‘Mein gaaun tum sojao sukh sapno mein kho jao’, ‘Aaj kal tere mere charche hain zuban par ‘. There are many more.
He was an urban star and his fame was with the youth like that of Dev Anand . He gave a sense of joy to a generation who searched in cinema for escape from the reality and also for entertainment, he also provided confidence to the youth of that time affected by colonial burden.
Many contributed to his success but since his forte was dance and music the music directors, lyricists and singers are to be credited, chief among them was Mohammad Rafi who sang almost all his songs. Shammi in his interview has paid his gratitude to him , O P Nayyar gave him the initial boost with ‘Tumsa nahi dekha’ and ‘Kashmir ki Kali’ the later success could be credited to Shankar Jaikishan and Hasrat Jaipuri/ Shailendra- ‘Professor’, ‘Junglee’, ‘An Evening in Paris’, ‘Raajkumar’, ‘Brahmachari’, ‘Andaz’ are some of them.
Later in his life, he played character roles, grew beard and added much weight- Zameer, PremRog, Vidhata, Betaab, Naseeb are some notable films.
Star of his stature may be seen again but there will not be any of his style, flourish, élan, robustness and confidence. He set a new status for dance and carried forward the great and unique Indian tradition of performing arts based on movement and music. Yahoo!!
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