Abstract
The article argues that Shammi Kapoor (1931–2011) revolutionized and forever altered the corporeal stylistic of popular Hindi cinema by breaking away from the soft masculinity of the golden era films. Whereas the golden era films, which were predominantly films of social criticism, put stress on the body as the repository of socio-political values and ethico-economic concerns, Kapoor's dancehall dramas ushered in a new aesthetics of the masculine body in which blood life – i.e. life as an expressive and a-causal principle of vitality – exceeds all socio-political frames and references. By virtue of this innovation, Kapoor altered the manner of performing the masculine in popular Hindi cinema and influenced a whole cadre of male heroes who followed in his wake.
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