Urdu mehfil celebrates Shashi Kapoor's birth anniversary with his life, work

A scene from MuhafizThe stories of Shashi Kapoors grace graciousness and generosity are as many as the number of lives he touched whether for a fleeting moment like one with a young artist in Lucknow whose paintings Kapoor simply couldnt walk past on his way to a shoot or for a lifetime as was the case with his fellow theatrewallahs This March 18 Kapoor would have turned 80 and to commemorate the occasion todays edition of the monthly Urdu gathering Mehfil Prithvi will be all about the iconic actors life and work through the lesserknown facet of his love for UrduWe felt it was important to talk about Shashi jis major contribution to Urdu and Hindi and in turn to Mumbai and there couldnt be a better occasion to do this than his birth anniversary says Salim Arif veteran theatre personality critic and organiser of MehfilPrithvi This evening the theatres premises will come alive with clips and anecdotes from Kapoors life and films with guests who have worked closely with him sharing their memories of Kapoor the actor and nurturer of artArif remembers Kapoor as a great lover of Urdu poetry When his son Kunal was studying in England he insisted that he brush up his Urdu And so Kunal used to take Urdu lessons from the late senior actor Zohra Sehgal sahiba he adds Apart from his fondness for Urdu I suspect there was one more reason why he wanted me to take those lessons Zohra ji was going through a rough patch and being the person of high selfesteem that she was she would have never taken any financial help So this was Dads way of doing a little something for her while I also brushed up my Urdu recalls Kunal trustee Prithvi Theatre He also remembers how Kapoor would prefer to watch channels from Pakistan on TV to listen to the zabaan and rhythm of the languageSalim ArifThis literary and cultural inclination were reflected in the choices Kapoor made at the peak of his career as a film actor For his production house Filmvalas he could have gone with a Manmohan Desai but he opted for a Shyam Benegal and we got films like Kalyug and Junoon Then there was Ismail Merchants MuhafizIn Custody which featured him as an ageing Urdu poet Arif sharesThe culimation of it all was in the quaint space by the beach in Juhu which Kapoor transformed with his beloved wife Jennifer Kendal After the Chhabildas movement there was no committed space for Hindustani plays in Mumbai until Prithvi Theatre happened In fact it is because of Prithvi that we have stalwarts of cinema coming back to theatre And for artistes who are not involved with films and television in a big way a big reason we have stayed on in Mumbai is Prithvi Arif continuesHe recalls I would bump into Shashi ji at Prithvi often and every time we met he would beat me to a namaste Sharing his version of the nowfamous cake stories he says After the curtain call of Humsafar we received a cake from the cafeteria saying Well Done Of course it came from Shashi ji He was like the generous chhote chacha of a familyBut what Arif calls the greatest legacy of Kapoor which has been deftly carried forward by his children is the sense of ownership the place gives to the theatre fraternity We never feel like the Kapoors own it We are all moral stakeholders of PrithviOn Tonight 7 pmAt Prithvi Theatre JuhuCall 26149546Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates