Family, friends pour in at Shammi's residence to pay tribute

Nephew Randhir Kapoor, grandnieces Karisma and Kareena, co-star Amitabh Bachchan, director Imtiaz Ali and many more visited the Blue Heaven Society on Malabar Hill to pay tribute to Shammi Kapoor, who breathed his last Sunday morning at the Breach Candy Hospital. He was 79.

He will be cremated Monday morning.Among the early birds from the film fraternity were Amitabh who came with wife Jaya, director Subhash Ghai, Anupam Kher, Imran Khan and his wife Avantika.

Industrialist Anil Ambani and his wife Tina Ambani were also among the early ones to pay their homage to the actor, who died of kidney failure after a week’s hospitalization.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Chhagan Bhujbal too came to pay his tributes to the legend.

“More than the industry’s loss, this is my bigger personal loss. I was very close to him and we used to meet often. I used to go and see him. I was to make a documentary on him. But I didn’t expect that he will leave us like this. Even at the age of 79, he was the representative of youth. His spirit was so young and youthful,” Ghai told reporters.

“He even told me about his shooting for (grandnephew) Ranbir Kapoor’s film ‘Rockstar’, for which he shot sometime back. He was so excited, he explained each and everything to me. He was looking forward to the movie,” he added.

Kareena, who is Shammi Kapoor's elder brother, Raj Kapoor's granddaughter, came along with her beau Saif Ali Khan. Among other family members were his nephews Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor who came with wife Neetu and his brother Shashi Kapoor.

Others spotted were Kajol, Farhan Akhtar, Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Rani Mukerji, Vinod Khanna, Bobby Deol and Imtiaz Ali.

“I was really fortunate to get his blessing and to get close to him and work with him. He is irreplaceable,” a visibly emotional Imtiaz Ali told IANS.

A lot of security personnel have been deployed in the area and also within the Blue Heaven Society complex because the actor’s house is in a high security zone and lies close to the residence of the Maharashtra chief minister.

Legendary Bollywood actor Shammi Kapoor, dies at 79

Legendary Bollywood actor Shammi Kapoor, whose acting and dancing style heavily influenced modern-day Indian film stars, died on Sunday aged 79.

"Shammi Kapoor ji passed away this morning at 5:15 am," Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan wrote on Twitter, using the Hindi honorific, saying Kapoor brought had "flamboyance and joie de vivre" to the screen.

Nikhil Gangavane, a family friend who headed the official Shammi Kapoor fan club, said the actor was admitted to the private Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai earlier this week.

"He was on a ventilator for three or four days. He was having some chest infection, which he had had for the last one or two years. He died of renal failure this morning," Gangavane told AFP.

"He had been undergoing dialysis for the last six or seven years but developed complications."

Kapoor's dance performances in romantic hits like Tumsa Nahin Dekha" (You're One of a Kind, 1957), "Dil Deke Dekho" (Give Your Heart and See, 1959) and "Junglee" (Wild, 1961) earned him comparisons with US singer Elvis Presley.

Key to his success was his avid interest in music. Kapoor personally selected the songs he would dance and mime to, mindful that they needed to fit his exuberant on-screen style.

In doing so, he and singers like Mohammed Rafi provided some of the industry's most popular and memorable tunes.

In later years, as he withdrew from acting and direction, Kapoor became a champion of the Internet and was the founder-chairman of the Internet Users Community of India, maintaining a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

His own web site www.junglee.org.in profiled his famous family, the Kapoors, who have dominated Hindi-language cinema virtually since its inception.

He described himself on his Twitter account profile as a "Renaissance man, retired actor, computer buff". (AFP)