Before Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn; this actor did pan masala ad in 1985, superstar scolded him: 'Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?'

Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Akshay Kumar have been criticised for featuring in the pan masala advertisements in the recent past. After facing backlash, Akshay had apologised to his fans and disassociated himself from such brands. Before the actors from the current generation, two superstars appeared in the Pan Parag ad in 1985 and the audiences embraced them with adulation. The iconic actors being talked about are Ashok Kumar and Shammi Kapoor.

However, Shammi's older brother and actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor disliked the popular advertisement as he respected the craft of an artiste. On his YouTube channel, Shammi shared how once Raj had scolded him for destroying his own reputation as an actor by promoting pan masala. The Brahmachari actor recalled that once the entire Kapoor Khandaan was travelling in Hong Kong and tonnes of fans gathered around them and started singing the Pan Parag jingle. While Shammi was overwhelmed with the audience's love, Raj was hugely disappointed and took his younger brother aside to talk to him privately.

"He gave me the firing of my life. He said with all your years and contribution to the film industry, your work as an actor, where has all your Junglee, Teesri Manzil, Professor, Dil Deke Dekho, where are they gone? Finished. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? People will remember you by Pan Parag? He was very right in his own way but how could I tell him that one of main desires in life was to work with Ashok Kumar and my only chance to work with him was in that ad", Shammi concluded.

Shammi Kapoor passes away at the age of 79 in August 2011. Before his death, he made his final film appearance in Imtiaz Ali's musical romantic drama Rockstar, in which he shared screen with Ranbir Kapoor, his grand-nephew and the grandson of Raj Kapoor, who had died at the age of 63 in 1988.

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