When Shashi Kapoor played a man who found movie actors talentless and frivolous, right at the cusp of his filmy stardom

Shashi Kapoor and Felicity Kendal in a still from Shakespeare Wallah.

Shakespeare Wallah was a unique film that followed the lives of a traveling theatre group of English artists in India who have lost the following they once had because of the rising prominence of the Indian film industry. They are longing for their home in England but now find themselves stuck in a place that was once crowded with English citizens. Many of their friends have left India for home and they too, want to return. Traveling from city to city like nomads, and performing in front of an audience that’s largely desi, the satisfaction of performing Shakespeare isn’t the same anymore but they just can’t let go.

When Sanju attends a Shakespearean play for the first time, he is overwhelmed by the experience and it is at this point, he starts looking own upon movie actors. It is quite ironic that Shashi did this film, which sees movies as a lowly art form, right at the precipice of his film stardom. Sanju is in a long term relationship with the movie star Manjula, who walks in and out of movie sets as she pleases. Her diva behaviour is equated with her lack of talent and as Sanju sees her dance around trees, he starts respecting the hard working theatre actor Lizzie even more. Sanju believes that his love for Lizzie is as true as her art, but he can’t let go of Manjula as well. Perhaps, Sanju and Shashi had something in common. Shashi could not let go of the stardom that the movies brought him but his true love was theatre.

Madhur Jaffrey in a still from Shakespeare Wallah.

Shakespeare Wallah is an English language film and has its characters saying their dialogues in English. Shashi was one of the few actors of his time, or of any time for that matter, who was just as comfortable in Hindi as he was in English, and it was evident here. Shashi is still remembered for his iconic Salim-Javed dialogues in Deewaar but the craft that one gets to see here, was never seen in Hindi movies.

Shashi Kapoor returned to his theatre roots a little later in his career and turned Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai into a mecca for actors. In his later years, Shashi dedicated his life to the theatre that was perhaps his first love and while the masses remember him as the beautiful hero who would dance with joy, he knew the art form that truly deserved recognition wasn’t as glamorous as the movies.