Shammi Kapoor married Geeta Bali without telling his family, she had one condition: ‘Wedding will take place today, or won’t happen at all’

The late actor Shammi Kapoor is remembered for his on-screen Yahoo persona and his Elvis-like moves on the silver screen. The actor presented a new version of the Hindi movie lover boy and when it came to his real life love story with his wife, actor Geeta Bali, he was just as filmy.
Shammi and Geeta met each other on the sets of a movie and before they knew it, they were in love. Their social status was vastly different at the time with Geeta being a successful film actor and Shammi being a newbie, yet their love found each other. Shammi Kapoor told Mrityunjoy Kumar Jha in a 2003 interview, “She was a star and I was a nobody, yet she believed in me.”
The Kashmir Ki Kali actor shared that he would ask her to get married often but she would brush it off. This went on for almost three years until one day, Geeta agreed but presented a condition – the wedding had to happen on the same day or it wouldn’t happen at all. “In 1955, we got married, here at Bandra at 4 am. Saat phere maare, then she took out a lipstick from her purse and gave it me. ‘Meri maang bhar dijiye’, she said and that’s what I did. It was beautiful,” he recalled in the same interview.
Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali got married in 1955. (Photo: Express Archives)
Geeta was one year older than Shammi and had worked with his father Prithviraj Kapoor and his brother Raj Kapoor so there were a few apprehensions as they decided to get married. “There were a few question marks. Geeta was a year older to me. She had co-starred with my father Prithviraj Kapoor in a film called Anand Math. She had also worked opposite my brother Raj Kapoor in Kidar Sharma’s film Bawre Nain. I was not sure how my family would react to it. But the apprehensions were momentary. I was adamant within myself that it had to be Geeta. She was the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with,” he recalled.
In an interview with Lehren Retro, Shammi shared that when he got married, his family members were not in the same city but he called his father soon after tying the knot. He said, “When I got married, my family was not here. Neither my mother, nor my father. Raj ji was here but I told him about getting married after I was married. There was no objection.” He recalled that when he called his father after his marriage, Prithviraj Kapoor called him to Bhopal so he could pass his blessings to the newly weds. He said, “When I rang up my father, I said ‘Papaji, bahu le aaya hun.’ Toh unhone kaha ‘Aa jao fir Bhopal, hum aashirvad dein‘.”
Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali were married for ten years before her passing. (Photo: Express Archives)
Shammi recalled that when he got married, he was surrounded successful people – his father, his brother Raj Kapoor and his wife. Yet, his wife was the most supportive person her knew. “I will tell you one thing in all sincerity. My wife Geeta Bali was a very mature person. She stood me like a pillar even when I did not have an identity, and even when I had an identity,” he said.
Geeta Bali passed away in 1965, ten years after being married to Shammi Kapoor. He later married Neela Devi. He passed away in 2011 at the age of 79.