Shakila: She danced with abandon, but remained in shadows

NEW DELHI: Shakila, the perky girl whom Shammi Kapoor serenades and irritates as only he could in the chartbuster, Baar baar dekho hazaar bar dekho ke dekhne ki cheez hai hamari dilruba (film: China Town, 1962), passed away following a heart attack in Mumbai on Wednesday. She was 82.

Crime drama CID (1956) starring Dev Anand was the biggest hit of her film career. But Shakila first caught the eye playing a night club dancer who ends up losing the man she loves in a Guru Dutt breezy musical with a dark touch, Aar Paar (1954).

As she swayed with abandon amidst cigarette fumes singing, Babuji dheere chalna, an OP Nayyar-Geeta Dutt classic, warning the hero about the perils of life and love, VK Murthy's enticing light and shade photography deftly captured the enticing mood of the moment. The song became a signature moment in her career.

Soon, Shakila graduated to being the leading lady playing characters that were endearing even when seemingly haughty. The scenes of wooing in CID, where Dev Anand follows her all over Bombay and pays off two street singers to croon Leke pehla pehla pehla pyaar, became a template for hundreds of similar numbers in popular Hindi cinema.

But while she got to lipsync the finest songs on celluloid, Shakila got few roles of merit and heft in experiment-shy mainstream Bollywood. In CID too, debutant Waheeda Rehman earned more favourable reviews.

Two other interesting films in her career were: Raj Kapoor's 1960 flop, Shriman Satyavadi and Begunah (1957), where she was paired opposite Kishore Kumar. The movie was a copy of Hollywood comic actor Danny Kaye's film, Knock On The Wood. "It was a very good comedy. Unfortunately, a week after the film was released, Danny Kaye came to Bombay and heard the movie was based on his film and had it banned," Shakila said in a 1984 interview.

The heroine also acted in a bunch of interesting but largely forgotten movies such as Agra Road, where Vijay Anand made his debut as a hero. In Post Box No 999, she was paired opposite Sunil Dutt and sang the seductively, sleepy track, Neend na mujhko aaye. In Kali Topi Lal Rumal, Shakila delivered an unlikely musical hit with actor Chandrashekhar. In the suspense flop, Tower House, she was cast with Ajit. The film had some evocative tracks such as Ae mere dil-e-nadan tu gham se na ghabrana composed by Ravi. All these songs are now available on online video sharing sites and the comments show that even though she quit films in the 1960s, Shakila was fondly remembered and far from forgotten.

After her marriage in the early 1960s, Shakila shifted to London.

Film personality Karan Bali talks about meeting her in a Bandra flat in 2008. "She had two children - a daughter, who tragically committed suicide, and a son," he writes in an article on upperstall.com.

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