Six Degrees of Separation:  from Shashi Kapoor to …

Shashi Kapoor in the 60's

Shashi Kapoor in the 60’s

… Meryl Streep  
Kapoor produced and starred in the art film, Junoon (1979), which was based on Ruskin Bond’s (1) novella, A Flight of Pigeons, and his short story Susanna’s Seven Husbands, was turned into a Bollywood Blockbuster called 7 Khoon Maaf (2011) which also starred John Abraham (2), who appeared in Water (2005) which was directed by Deepa Mehta (3), who also directed Camilla (1994) which starred Bridget Fonda (4), who happens to be the niece of Jane Fonda (5), who appeared in Julia (1977), which also saw Meryl Streep (6) in her debut performance; though she had very little screen time, her role was crucial to the plot.

… Sushmita Sen
Kapoor, who comes from a great line of Bollywood royalty (he is from the second generation of Kapoor’s, today the forth generation of Kapoor’s is taking the film industry by storm), starred in many a movies with the most popular Bollywood superstar from the 70’s till date, Amitabh Bachchan (1), and they share a great friendship, and  Bachchan is married to actress Jaya Bhaduri (2), and their son Abhishek Bachchan (3), is married to Bollywood’s most famous import into the international market, superstar Aishwarya Rai (4), making the Bachchan’s a modern day Bollywood Royalty, second only to the Kapoor’s, and Aishwarya Rai was the second Miss India to win the Miss World title in 1994, the first being Reita Faria (5) in 1966 (she wasn‘t only first Indian to win the crown, but also the first Asian to do so), and socialite/actress Sushmita Sen (6) was the first Indian beauty queen to win the Miss Universe crown, for her beauty and brains, a rare trait among contestants today, she became Miss Universe in 1994, the same year as Rai.

… Emily Mortimer
Kapoor’s daughter Sanjana Kapoor (1) had a glimpse of a role in the superb Indian art film which ended up being the second Indian movie ever to be nominated for the ‘Best Foreign Film’ category at the Oscars, Salaam Bombay! (1988) which was directed by Mira Nair (2), who later directed the not so great Vanity Fair (2004) in which Tom Sturridge (3) had a small role, who happens to be the son of British actress Phoebe Nicholls (4) who starred in the television mini-series, Brideshed Revisited (1981), which was based on a novel by renowned author, Evelyn Waugh (5), who also wrote the novel Vile Bodies, which was the basis for the film Bright Young Things (2003) which starred Emily Mortimer (6).

Shashi K 6°

… Anouk Aimée  
Kapoor acted in A Matter of Innocence (1967) which co-starred Hayley Mills (1), who happens to be the daughter of actor John Mills (2), who played the ‘village idiot’ taunted by the bullying villagers of an Irish coastline, in Ryan’s Daughter (1970), which was directed by David Lean (3), who also directed Lawrence of Arabia (1962), with Peter O’Toole (4) and Omar Sharif (5), and Sharif starred alongside French actress, Anouk Aimée (6) in The Appointment (1969).

… Natalie Portman
Kapoor’s first English language venture The Householder (1963), was Merchant Ivory productions very first feature film (an Indian English language venture); Merchant Ivory productions was founded by a trio of friends with aesthetically superior taste, the trio comprised of a Producer, Ismail Merchant (1), a Director, James Ivory (2) and a Writer, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (3); and Merchant Ivory productions later were responsible for the British movie, Howards End (1992), which starred Emma Thompson (4), who appeared in the television movie Wit (2001), a unique superbly farcical film which completely focuses on the character, played by Thomson, who is dying of ovarian cancer; beautifully made by director Mike Nichols (5), who also directed the very modernistic British Art Film, one of the best to come out in the noughties, Closer (2004), which also starred Natalie Portman (6), who turned 32 on Sunday (day before yesterday).

… Aparna Sen
Kapoor and actress Hema Malini (1), both looking smart as ever, dressed in very elegantly tailored bellbottom trouser suits et al, are seen playing golf, tennis, romancing and even doing actual yoga, in Trishul (1978), set amongst New Delhi’s elite; for a change set in the capital (New Delhi), unlike most Bollywood films, which are normally set in the streets of Bombay (now known as Mumbai); and Malini did a double role in Sita aur Geeta (1972), which co-starred Sanjeev Kumar (2), who acted with Suchitra Sen (3) in Aandhi (1975), and Sen’s granddaughter, Raima Sen (4) appeared in the Bengali English Language art film, The Japanese Wife (2010), which was based on a short story by Kunal Basu (5), and was directed by Aparna Sen (6), who is unrelated to any other Sen mentioned here.

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense ()

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