Shashi Kapoor is an Indian film actor and film producer. He has also been a film director and assistant director in the Hindi film industry. He was born on Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India. He is remembered for many hit Hindi films, including ones he starred in with Amitabh Bachchan, such as Deewar, Do Aur Do Paanch and Namak Halaal. He has also played leading roles in a number of British films, including several Merchant Ivory productions such as Shakespeare-Wallah. In 2011, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. Shashi Kapoor started acting in films as a child in the early 1940s appearing in several mythological films. His best known performances were in Aag (1948) and Awaara (1951) where he played the younger version of the characters played by his older brother Raj Kapoor.

He made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 Yash Chopra film Dharmputra and went on to appear in over 100 films. He was a very popular debonair actor in Bollywood during the 1960s, 1970s and the early 1980s with his most famous movies include Waqt (1965), Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965), Kanyadan (1969), Haseena Maan Jayegi (1968), Aa Gale Lag Jaa (1973), Roti Kapda Aur Makan (1974), Chor Machaye Shor (1974), Deewaar (1975), Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Fakira (1976) Trishul (1978), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), Kaala Patthar (1979), Suhaag (1979), Shaan (1980), Kranti (1981) and Namak Halaal (1982). His last and most recent film appearances were in Jinnah (1998), a biopic of Mohammed Ali Jinnah in which he was the narrator and another Merchant-Ivory production titled Side Streets (1998). He has now retired from the film industry and not appeared in any film since. He has been seen in the limelight at the "Shashi Kapoor Film Festival" held in Muscat, Oman (Sept 2007). He has lost a considerable amount of weight and looked healthy. Recently, at the 55th Annual Filmfare Awards, Shashi Kapoor received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.