Veteran Hindi film actor Shashi Kapoor passed away on Monday after prolonged illness. He was 79. The actor-producer took his last breath at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai. He appeared in a large number of Hindi films as well as in various English-language films, notably the films produced by Merchant-Ivory. He was also a film director and assistant director in the Hindi film industry. Born as Balbir Prithviraj Kapoor; 18 March 1938 Kapoor was a member of the Kapoor family, a film dynasty in India’s Bollywood cinema. Kapoor was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) during the British Raj. He was the third and youngest son of Prithviraj Kapoor, the younger brother of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor, the widower of Jennifer Kendal (sister of actress Felicity Kendal), and the father of Karan Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, and Sanjana Kapoor.

In 2011, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India for his contributions to Art-Cinema. In 2015, he was awarded the 2014 Dadasaheb Phalke Award, making him the third member of his family to receive the highest award in Indian Cinema after Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor. He was admitted for a reported chest infection at Kokilaben Hospital, Mumbai on 3 December 2017 and died on 4 December 2017 due to prolonged liver cirrhosis. He made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film “Dharmputra” and went on to appear in more than 116 films during the ’70s and until the mid ’80s. The veteran actor is well-known for his roles in films like ‘Deewaar’ (1975 ), ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ (1978 ), ‘Junoon’ (1978 ), ‘Shaan’ (1980 ), and ‘Namak Halaal’ (1982).