Watch when Shashi Kapoor repeatedly shut down questions about wife Jennifer in interview, called it ‘zaati mamla’

While many celebrities love to share their personal lives with their fans and the media, some old school stars believed in keeping their private lives away from limelight. Late actor Shashi Kapoor was one such an actor.

Shashi Kapoor was married to English actor Jennifer Kendal for almost three decades but did not often speak about their relationship. In a resurfaced interview from 1991, Shashi is seen repeatedly shutting down questions about his late wife, who died in 1984.

The interviewer is heard speaking with Shashi about how Jennifer’s death has affected him and ‘changed his lifestyle’. Shashi reluctantly says, “Well surely. Of course, yeah.” As she asks him to elaborate, Shahid refuses to do it. “No. It is a very personal thing you know. Let’s stay on the professional side,” he said. The interviewer asks him again about Jennifer but he repeatedly tells her that he won’t entertain the questions.

“Again, you are coming to a very… in Hindi we call it ‘zaati mamla (personal matter)’. Of course she was an important part of my life as a wife, as an actress, as a friend, as a philosopher, as guide. Yes sure, 28 years of being together.”

Shashi’s fans loved his calm persona in the video. “I have the most respect for Shashi Kapoor. He always came across as a such a warm person in his interviews,” wrote one. Other noticed how Shashi was emotional on being asked about his late wife.

Also read: Neena Gupta and her first husband were together for just a year, she reveals ‘childish reason’ they got married

Jennifer was diagnosed with cancer in 1983. As per Shashi Kapoor’s biography, . Jennifer spent her last months in London in the hospital and at her parents’ home. Shashi was heartbroken at her death. An excerpt from Aseem Chhabra’s book read, “After Jennifer’s demise, Dev Benegal says that he met Kunal Kapoor at a memorial at Prithvi Theatre: ‘The family had just come back from Goa and Kunal said to me, ‘Dad took this boat out in the middle of the sea. When he got there, that was the first time he cried. Really, he wept.” Like Dev, I’m stunned by the rawness of that moment—of Shashi, alone in the vast open seas, sorrowing. ‘He was really shaken by her death’.”

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