Kashmir remembers Shashi Kapoor

The actor first visited Kashmir in 1965 for the shooting of his hit movie Jab Jab Phool Khile. In the movie, Kapoor played the role of Raja, a Kashmiri boatman who falls for his tourist Rita Khanna ( Nanda).

The movie, through a string of sequences, not only captured the awe-inspiring beauty of the Valley, but also provided insights into the rich Kashmiri culture. Kapoor is said to have cultivated a special relationship with local boatmen during the shooting of the film.

“Shashi sahab was a great soul. I clearly recollect the days when Jab Jab Phool Khile was being shot here . He stayed on a posh king-sized houseboat, Helen, on the Dal Lake,” recalls 82-year-old Azim Tuman, a former chairman of Houseboat Owners’ Association.

“For many days, he stayed with us, learnt to ride a boat. He was a friend and a great admirer of Kashmir,” Tuman added nostalgically.

Another houseboat owner Hamid Wangoo (67) said that the tourism industry in Kashmir would always remain indebted to the Kapoor family for portraying the beauty of the Valley, besides the warmness of its people, through some of the older Bollywood movies.

“Following the release of the movie Jab Jab Phool Khile, thousands of tourists streamed to the Valley. For Kashmir’s tourism industry, such movies were a shot in the arm,” said Wangnoo.

Shashi also shot Kanyadan in Kashmir and then in 1968, he visited the Valley again to film the hit number Bekhudi mein sanam, uth gaye jo kadam for the movie Haseena Maan Jaayegi.

Farooq Nazki, a pre-eminent bard and a broadcaster in the Valley, reacted to the news of Shashi Kapoor’s death, “It seemed as if the flowers of Nishat and Shalimar gardens in Kashmir wilted suddenly.”

“ …And whenever there is spring, everyone in the Valley will remember Shashi Kapoor,” Nazki went on.