'My God! He was the most handsome man I had seen'

'When I met him for the first time, it was when he visited the location of my first Hindi film Kashmir Ki Kali.'
'I was shooting the song Isharon Isharon Mein with Shashi's brother Shammi.'
'I couldn't concentrate on my romantic poses with Shammi.'
'Director Shakti Samanta had to ask Shashi to leave!'

Sharmila Tagore worked with Shashi Kapoor in Aamne Samne Aa Gale Lag Jaa, New Delhi Times among other films and the two Westernised stars shared a beautiful relationship beyond the movies.

Sharmila shares her memories of Shashi Kapoor with Subhash K Jha:

I don't think I enjoyed working with any co-star as much as I did with Shashi Kapoor... His death has still not sunk in.

While I shared only a professional rapport with other co-stars, with Shashi I socialised. We would meet over dinner and drinks.

It was always a pleasure to meet Shashi and his wonderful wife Jennifer. They complemented each other perfectly.

Seeing Shashi and Jennifer together was so gratifying.

I don't think Shashi ever got over her death. It broke him and made him reckless about life.

He became suicidal.

It was sad to see him let himself go.

I still remember how handsome he was. My God! He was the most handsome man I had seen.

When I met him for the first time, it was when he visited the location of my first Hindi film Kashmir Ki Kali.

I was shooting the song Isharon Isharon Mein with Shashi's brother Shammi. I couldn't concentrate on my romantic poses with Shammi. Director Shakti Samanta had to ask Shashi to leave!

The funny thing was before I could confess that I was a fan, Shashi started telling me that he was a fan of my work, having seen me in Satyajit Ray's Apur Sansar.

That charm completely won women over.

Over the years, we became close friends.

We got a lot of opportunity to work and spend time together as most of our films were shot outside Mumbai over lengthy periods of time.

We shot in Canada (Door Desh) and in Rajasthan (Paap Aur Punya).

Shashi's children and my son Saif were all there.

Saif, who very small, became very fond of his Shashi uncle.

In a sequence where Shashi was being hung by a noose by the villain, Saif, unknown to the camera and crew, toddled up to the villain and bit him for hurting his favourite Shashi uncle.

I guess Shashi's charms worked on the young and old alike.

We did a lot of films together, some of them like New Delhi Times, Aamne Samne and Aa Gale Lag Jaa were good. Some were really awful. Not too many of them worked at the box office, which is a pity.

• Shashi Kapoor: The Eternal Star