My father was a lively person: Shammi Kapoor's son

Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) Aditya Raj Kapoor has described his father Shammi Kapoor, who died Sunday morning, as a 'happy and lively person' and has hoped his fans will pray his soul rests in peace.

'He was a very happy and lively person. His life was going good. But he was on dialasis and he died of kidney failure,' said Aditya who was at his father's side when he breathed his last.

'He was unwell for sometime... please pray that his soul rests in peace. I miss him and I know so will you,' he told reporters at the Blue Heaven Society in Malabar Hill in south Mumbai.

Shammi Kapoor, a veteran of the Hindi cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, died here Sunday morning. He was 79.

He was married to actress Geeta Bali and had a son, Aditya, and a daughter, Kanchan. Geeta died of smallpox in 1965, leaving Shammi with two small children. In 1969, he married Neela Devi Gohil from the erstwhile royal family of Bhavnagar in Gujarat.

'Today is family day. People will come and see him. Tomorrow morning around 9 a.m. we will cremate him at the Ban Ganga funeral ground,' Aditya said.

Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Imran Khan and his wife Avantika, Farah Khan and industrialist Anil Ambani arrived at the Kapoor residence at the Blue Heaven Society to pay their last respects to the departed soul.