Legendary actor Shammi Kapoor passes away

 "Shammi Kapoor ji passed away this morning at 5:15 am .. Rushing there now .. the flamboyance and joi de verve of the Industry lost !" This was Amitabh Bachchan's tweet that appeared on his twitter page at around 9am on Sunday. The 79-year-old actor had been admitted to Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai last Sunday. Kapoor had been suffering from chronic renal failure.

Shammi Kapoor 1931-2011

Shammi Kapoor (Shamsher Raj Kapoor) was born on 21 October 1931 in a Punjabi^[2] Khatri family, an Indian film actor and director. He was a prominent lead actor in Hindi cinema during the late 1950s and 1960s. He passed away on the morning of August 14th, 2011 at 5.15 AM.

He was given the name Shamsher Raj Kapoor at his birth in Mumbai to film and theatre actor Prithviraj Kapoor, Shammi was the second of the three sons born to Prithviraj (the other two being Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor), both of whom were, like their father, successful Bollywood actors. Though born in Mumbai, he spent a major portion of his childhood in Kolkata, where his father was involved with New Theatres Studios, acting in films. It was in Kolkata that he did his Montessory and Kindergarten. After coming back to Mumbai, he first went to St. Joseph's Convent (Wadala) and then, to Don Bosco School. Shammi Kapoor finished his schooling from New Era School, at Hughes Road.

Shammi Kapoor was hailed as one of the finest actors that Hindi cinema has ever produced. Extremely versatile as an actor, he was the leading star of Hindi cinema during the late 1950s as well as the 1960s. He debuted in Bollywood in 1953 with the film Jeevan Jyoti, and went on to deliver hits like Tumsa Nahin Dekha, Dil Deke Dekho, Junglee, Dil Tera Diwana, Professor, China Town, Rajkumar, Kashmir Ki Kali, Janwar, Teesri Manzil, An Evening in Paris, Bramhachari, and Andaz and Vidhaata. He received the Filmfare Best Actor Award in 1968 for his performance in Brahmachari and Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor for Vidhaata in 1982.