Shakti Kapoor

Name: Shakti Kapoor
Birthday: Wednesday, September 03, 1958










BIOGRAPHY

Shakti Kapoor is one of the most comic actors to grace the Bollywood screen. Since the start of his career he has done more than 300 films. He had been often nominated for the Filmfare Award in the most comic performance category. His on-screen pairing with another comic actor Kader Khan as the latter's son has often led to laughable comedies. When the Mumbai film industry competed with its American counterpart in serving the audience the 'show must go on' formula of 'sex and violence' this actor became one of the most recognized faces of the hodge-podge filmdom. His very notable performances include Nandu of the David Dhawan masterpiece Raja Babu.

Shakti Samanta

Name: Shakti Samanta
Birthday: Wednesday, January 13, 1926
Star Sign : Capricorn









BIOGRAPHY

Shakti Samanta (born January 13, 1926 in Burdwan, West Bengal, British India) is an Indian director. He graduated in 1944 from Calcutta University. He joined the film industry in 1948 as an assistant director and worked with Gyan Mukherjee, Satish Nigam and Phani Mazumdar.

Samanta Directed first feature film in 1954 and started his own production company, Shakti Films, in 1957. In all, Samanta has directed 43 feature films: including 37 Hindi, and 6 Bengali films. His best-nown films are: Howra Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, An Evening In Paris, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Anuraag, Amanush, Barsaat Ki Ek Raat and Mehbooba. Samanta is credited for starting the trend of making double version films in Hindi and Bengali with Amanush in 1974. Samanta also made the first co-produced film between India and Bangladesh in 1984.

Samanta received Filmfare awards for "Best film" for Aradhana, Anuraag and Amanush. He has also received several Lifetime Achievement awards and several other awards from Zee and other Indian organizations. Some of his films have been shown at international festivals in Berlin, Tashkent, Moscow, Cairo and Beirut.

Samanta was President of the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association for 5 years, Chairman of the Central Board Of Film Certification for 7 years and was Chairman of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata for 2 years.

Shamita Shetty

Name: Shamita Shetty
Birthday: Friday, February 02, 1979
Star Sign : Pisces
First Film : Mohabbatein









BIOGRAPHY

She graduated in Commerce from Mumbai's Sydenham College and even did a diploma course in Fashion Designing from the coveted SNDT. She had her eyes on designing when Aditya Chopra approached her for a role opposite Uday Chopra in 'Mohabbatein'. It was an offer too irresistible to refuse. At that time, she was even linked romantically to her co-star. Shamita Shetty is young, vivacious and sexy, and has all the makings of a star. The younger sister of Shilpa, this doe-eyed nymphet may not have bagged much commercial success but featured in a few films after 'Mohabbatein'. Of course, with a dearth of many Bollywood flicks in her kitty, she's been making moolah doing southside films. Her most recent release was 'Agnipankh' (Jimmy Shergill, Rahul Dev, Sameer Dharmadhikari) which bombed. Before that, her item track ('Sharara Sharara') in Yashraj Films' 'Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai', became a runaway hit. She did another sensational item number in Kunal Kohli's 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge'. Shamita will be seen in Boney Kapoor's forthcoming 'Bewafa' (Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Sushmita Sen) in which she has a mildly negative role. These days, she is being linked to Aftab Shivdasani!

Shammi Kapoor

Name: Shammi Kapoor
Birthday: Wednesday, October 21, 1931
Star Sign : Libra
First Film : Dil Deke Dekho








BIOGRAPHY

Shammi Kapoor (born October 21, 1931) is an actor in Hindi films. Most of his successful films were in the late 1950s and 1960s. He was born Shamsher Raj Kapoor in Mumbai to film and theatre actor Prithviraj Kapoor. Shammi was the second of three sons born to Prithviraj (the other two being Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor), all of whom were, like their father, successful Bollywood actors. He acted in many fun and boisterous films; he is often considered the Indian Elvis Presley. He particularly used Mohammed Rafi as his playback voice and Rafi was also his friend. In fact, it was Rafi who shouted the song "Yahoo" and famously picturized on Shammi in the huge hit film Junglee (1961). He won the Filmfare award as Best Actor for Brahmachari (1968). Producers loved pairing Shammi with new heroines, but only three became huge stars: Asha Parekh, Saira Banu, and Sharmila Tagore. He and Asha Parekh were paired together in four films, the most successful being the murder mystery Teesri Manzil (1966). However, tragedy struck during the filming of Teesri Manzil (1966), when Shammi's first wife, actress Geeta Bali, died of small pox, leaving him with two small children. It led to a failed romance with Mumtaz, his co-star from Brahmachari (1968). In 1969, he married his second wife Neela, and his significant weight gain ended his career as a romantic hero in the early 1970's, with Andaz (1971) being one of his last hits. He turned supporting actor, playing Saira Banu's father in Zameer (1975), when he had been her leading man a decade earlier in Junglee (1961) and Bluff Master (1964). He also directed Manoranjan (1974) and Bandalbaaz (1976), but neither were successful. He won his second Filmfare award, this time as Best Supporting Actor for Vidhaata (1982). He also won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. Shammi Kapoor was also one of the foremost internet users in India. He is the founder and chairman of Internet Users Community of India (IUCI) and has been instrumental in setting up internet organizations like the Ethical Hackers Association

Shamshad Begum

Name: Shamshad Begum











BIOGRAPHY

Shamshad Begum was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the film industry. Shamshad Begum was born in Amritsar, Punjab. She was a big fan of K.L. Saigal and watched Devdas 14 times. She earned 15 rs per song and was awarded 5000 on the completion of the contract on jenaphone. She started her radio career on Peshawar Radio and did work on Lahore, Dehli etc. She made her debut on radio in Lahore on December 16, 1937 captivating the hearts of listeners with the enchanting depth of her voice. Shamshad, reputed to be a stunningly beautiful woman in her youth, performed live both on stage and the All India Radio (AIR) through her musical group The Crown Imperial Theatrical Company of Performing Arts, set up in Delhi. The then AIR Lahore helped her in entering the world of movies as frequent broadcasting of her songs, which induced music directors to use her voice for their films. Shamshad also recorded "naats" and devotional music for a couple of gramophone recording companies. Her crystal clear voice caught the attention of sarangi maestro Ustad Hussain Bakshwale Saheb, who took her as his disciple. Lahore-based composer Ghulam Haider used her voice skillfully in some of his earlier films like: Khazanchi (1941) and Khandaan (1942). When he shifted to Bombay in 1944, Shamshad went with him as a member of his team. She is credited with singing one of the first Westernised songs - Meri jaan...sunday ke sunday by C.Ramchandra. O.P.Nayyar describes her voice as that of a "temple bell" for its clarity of tone. In 1944 when Mehboob Khan launched his historical venture Humayun, Master Ghulam Haider used her voice in the film. That was the time when Amirbai Karnatki was considered the number one playback singer in Bombay. With the introduction of Shamshad Begum in the film world of Bombay, contemporary composers almost fell over each other in booking her for recording of their songs leading to a prolific career until the mid-late 1950s. Music directors like C. Ramchandra, S.D. Burman and Naushad & O.P.Nayyar used her as their prime female vocalist in the early part of their careers. Shamshad became a national rage between the 1940s and the late 50s rendering songs with her nasal voice, which helped her carve her independent image - a voice different from her peers - Lata, Asha, Geeta etc. Around 1998 there was a rumour that she had died, but the singer is very much alive & resides in Mumbai as a recluse.

Shankar Mahadevan

Name: Shankar Mahadevan
First Film : Zor











BIOGRAPHY

Shankar Mahadevan is an Indian singer and music composer. He gained fame for his album entitled Breathless in which he sings constantly for over two minutes without pausing for taking a breath. He is an engineering graduate trained in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music.

He is the Shankar of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio.

Recently, he became famous as a celebrity judge in the popular reality television show, Fame Gurukul.

Shankar often collaborates with Swedish group of musicians, Mynta.

Sharmila Tagore

Name: Sharmila Tagore
Birthday: Sunday, December 08, 1946
Star Sign : Sagittarius
First Film : Satyajit Ray film








BIOGRAPHY

Sharmila Tagore is a renowned Indian movie actress, who as of April 2005 heads the Indian Film Censor Board. Born on 8 December 1946 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, Sharmila Tagore is a distant relative of Rabindranath Tagore. She married Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi who was the Nawab of Pataudi in 1968. The marriage produced 3 children: Saif Ali Khan (b. 1970), Saba Ali Khan, and Soha Ali Khan (b. 1978). Sharmila Tagore began her career as an actress in the 1959 Satyajit Ray film, The World of Apu / Apur Sansar (the final film of the Apu trilogy). She also starred in three more films by Ray, the 1960 film Devi / The Goddess, the 1966 film Nayak, and the 1970 film Aranyer Din Ratri / Days and Nights in the Forest. Tagore established herself, as an actress with the movie Kashmir Ki Kali in 1964, which also established her as a sex symbol after appearing in a two piece bikini. Some of her biggest and most famous movies was made after she had given birth to her first son. It was unusual for Indian actresses to continue acting in movies after marrying at this time. Some of her most memorable parts was in movies as Amar Prem (1971), Daag (1973) and Safar (1970) which all was in combination with the first super star of Hindi movies, Rajesh Khanna. In addition, she played the role of Kinnu in Mira Nair's 1991 film Mississippi Masala. In December 2005 she was chosen as an UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.