Check into 'The Shashi Kapoor Room'

Steeped in celebrity history, Fairlawn Hotel played host to several famous guests, including Shashi Kapoor and his wife, who chose it for their honeymoon, writes Uttaran Das Gupta

Old-timers will remember Violet Smith — “Vi” to her friends — sitting at the portico of her quaint Fairlawn Hotel on Sudder Street in central Kolkata. She knew many of those who came for the continental delicacies or to drink in the garden restaurant. She could also tell you everything about the swinging jazz scene in the city in the 1940s. Her hotel, a landmark, has had many famous guests — Günter Grass, Patrick Swayze, Julie Christie, Tirtio Terzani, Sting, James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. But there was one who returned to it again and again — Shashi Kapoor.

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