The Last Rights

“Nikhil has been closely associated with our family. His fan club has made my husband’s fans happy and brought them closer,” says Neila Devi Kapoor,wife of the late actor. From next year,Gangavane and Neila plan to support unique Shammi Kapoor tribute events. “We will back events that we think are different from the usual,” says Gangavane.

Surfing on his websites that have old images of the actor apart from his DVDs on sale,Gangavane recalls his first meeting with Kapoor. Corresponding over emails and on the phone since 1998,the two met in person in 2005. “I visited him after my marriage to seek his blessings. The meeting was followed by a number of visits that lasted up to five-six hours. A common passion that got me closer to him and his wife was astrology and spirituality. I am still regularly in touch with mummy ji (Kapoor’s wife) and we have a very strong bond,” says 33-year-old Gangavane,adding that the actor approved of the fan page as soon as he shared the content with him.

“He was surprised to see photographs of him that he had never seen before. What shocked him more was that a 21-year-old fan,a much younger than his regular fans,was in possession of this material,” says Gangavane,remembering a 12 year old incident.

In possession of ample material — including old magazines,postcards and photographs of the actor – Gangavane had no difficulty designing the fan club website and Facebook fan page. Besides,he was fortunate that the actor was willing to not only share information and content,but also help Gangavane cross-check any new detail he discovered. For instance,a dhaba owner from Kashmir shared a mail about how Shammi ji never missed lunch at his dhaba when he was on his way to Kashmir — a fact that Kapoor confirmed.

The ardent fan might also put some rare memorabilia of the actor on auction next year. The vast collection includes song booklets printed when a Shammi Kapoor film was released,autographed movie posters,books,DVDs,audio CDs and photographs of the actor. “Osian’s approached me recently to sell them all my memorabilia. Though papaji had advised me to auction the material,I wasn’t ready and wanted some more time,” says Gangavane.