Many people believe that winning a national acting award and being part of an Oscar-nominated film can significantly enhance an actor’s career. But that didn’t happen for Shafiq Syed. He was picked from the streets of Mumbai by a casting agent and got to play a child actor in Mira Nair’s ‘Salaam Bombay!’. Still, his film career ended much sooner than he had hoped. With no more acting offers coming, Shafiq had to start driving an auto-rickshaw to earn a living.
Shafiq Syed’s runaway journey to Mumbai
According to a report by Indian Express, Shafiq left his home in Bangalore during the 1980s and travelled to Mumbai without buying a ticket, hoping to see if the city truly matched its Bollywood image. Living on the streets near Churchgate station at the time, he was one day approached by a woman offering him and other street children Rs 20 to join an acting workshop. Most of the other kids fled, suspecting a scam, but Shafiq, driven by hunger, decided to go along. Out of the many children present, he was chosen for the lead role in Mira Nair’s ‘Salaam Bombay!’, a film that went on to achieve major success and remains one of only three Indian films ever nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Shafiq Syed’s dream that faded
After the film became a big hit, Shafiq thought about making acting his career. Being honoured by the President of India and winning the National Film Award were some of the happiest moments of his life. But soon, he stopped getting acting work. Feeling left out, he left Mumbai and went back to his hometown, Bangalore. Once he was home, he stopped thinking about acting and became an auto-rickshaw driver instead. He had five family members who depended on him, and he was only earning Rs 150 a day.
Shafiq Syed on why it never felt like acting
In a 2010 interview with Open Magazine, Shafiq shared, “While filming, I felt I did not have to ‘act’ at all. It consisted of language, stories and situations that I had already lived through. People called Salaam Bombay! an ‘art film’. But truth is, it wasn’t. It was like my own story. It was the life of India on the streets. It was life that wasn’t different from death, and I had lived it. Helping me out were co-actors Raghuvir Yadav, Nana Patekar, Anita Kanwar. I learnt that acting means a character honestly ‘reacting’ to a situation. The other person’s moves are a cue to what I have to do. I had to learn all these small things. Even just being myself in front of the camera was an on-the-sets education for me.”He further added, “As I came back to Bombay, news of Salaam Bombay! was in several newspapers. It kept getting nominated for some prize or the other, and got some international awards. No one called me for those awards. The only time I went for something was when I was called for the National Award in Delhi. I trooped in and out of innumerable film studios in Bombay, but got no work. I would go with newspaper cuttings where I was mentioned. On more than one occasion, a junior assistant director saw the paper clippings, saw my photo and asked: “Aaj khana khaya kya?”.
Shafiq Syed on the dream that ended abruptly
While speaking to us earlier, he said, “We shot for 52 days and they agreed to pay me Rs 15,000. I was thrilled. After the shooting, I’d go watch movies and relish Mumbai’s street food. The movie was a huge hit and when the President took photographs with me, it was all a dream. But the dream ended abruptly. The film crew wound up and dispersed. I roamed the streets of Mumbai, knocked on the doors of producers for nearly eight months, but luck did not smile.”
Shafiq Syed’s last film
Following ‘Salaam Bombay!’, Shafiq Syed went on to appear in one more film, Goutam Ghose‘s ‘Patang’, but he did not take on any other acting projects after that.
