Actor Shashi Kapoor. Credit: YouTube
Mumbai: Legendary Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor, the romantic screen icon of 1970s and 1980s, died on Monday evening. He was 79.
He took his last breath at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital here.
Actor Randhir Kapoor, son of veteran actor Raj Kapoor, confirmed the news.
“Yes he has passed away. He had kidney problem since several years. He was on dialysis for several years,” Randhir Kapoor told PTI.
The funeral will be held on Tuesday morning, he said.
“Shashi Kapoor expired at 5:20 pm on December 4 at Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai,” Dr Ram Narain from Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital told PTI.
Born on March 18, 1938, to the illustrious and formidable theatre and film actor Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor hit the spotlight at the age of four, acting in plays directed and produced by his father. He started acting in films as a child artiste in the late 1940s.
His best known performances as a child actor were in Aag (1948) and Awaara (1951), where he played the younger version of the character played by Raj Kapoor. Shashi Kapoor also worked as an assistant director in the 1950s.
He made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film Dharmputra and went on to appear in more than 116 films during 1970s and until the mid 1980s.
Some of his memorable films include Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie, Namak Halal, Kaala Pathar and others.
He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2011 and received the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award in 2015.