Shammi Kapoor’s wife Neila Devi recalls his love story with first wife Geeta Bali: ‘He met her during his rebound from Nutan’

Shammi Kapoor was deeply in love with Geeta Bali but unfortunately, a few years into their marriage, she passed away due to smallpox.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | April 26, 2023 09:16 PM IST

3 min read

Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali had a beautiful love story. (Photo: Express Archives)

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Late actor Shammi Kapoor lived a lavish life and was famously in love with Geeta Bali, whom he eventually married. But the marriage saw an unfortunate end when Geeta passed away at the age of 35 due to smallpox. Shammi and Geeta were parents to two children and a few years after Geeta’s passing, Shammi married Neila Devi. In a new interview, Neila opened up about Shammi’s love story with Geeta and how he coped with her death.

Neila, in an interview with ETimes, said that her first memory of Shammi and Geeta as a couple was from the time when she would watch them race their convertible cars and she admired them as a couple. Before Shammi proposed to Neila, she said he told her everything about Geeta. “They were only married for 8-9 years and she passed away. It was a very big shock to him. For six months, he stayed at Raj ji’s place and Krishna ji looked after him. He was drinking non-stop,” she recalled.

Neila Devi described Geeta Bali as “a very mature person” who “understood him (Shammi) and gave him that boost of whatever he needed to be successful”. She recalled that Geeta and Shammi first met in Mumbai shortly after the Junglee actor’s break-up with Nutan. “He met her here in Mumbai. During the rebound from Nutan, may be. I’m sure everybody knows about it.” Neila said both Geeta and Shammi had a “terrific sense of humour” and “both used to sing” and that is how “they clicked”.

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Neila further recalled an anecdote that was shared by Shammi. “He was shooting for Rangeen Raatein in Ranikhet. She (Geeta Bali) didn’t have any role there but to be with him, she said I’ll play a boy’s role in the film. The heroine was Mala Sinha and that’s where they fell in love. For a while it went on, till she said yes to him,” she shared. Geeta and Shammi got married in the middle of the night after he proposed to her.

Neila Devi also shared that every year Shammi Kapoor would stop drinking for 21 days, from January 1 to January 21 because Geeta Bali fell sick on January 1 and passed away on January 21.

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