Many people believe that winning a national acting award and being a part of an Oscar-nominated film can significantly enhance an actor’s career. But that didn’t happen to me Shafiq Syed. He was picked on the streets of Mumbai by a casting agent and ended up playing a child actor Look at Nair‘s ‘Salaam Bombay!’. However, his film career ended much sooner than he expected. With no more acting offers, Shafiq had to start driving an auto-rickshaw to earn a living.
Shafiq Syed’s runaway trip to Mumbai
According to an Indian Express report, Shafiq left his home in Bangalore during the 1980s and traveled to Mumbai without buying a ticket, hoping to see if the city really matched his Bollywood image. Living on the streets near Churchgate station at the time, he was approached one day by a woman who offered him and other street children 20 rupees to join an acting workshop. Most of the other children ran away, suspecting a scam, but Shafiq, driven by hunger, decided to follow. Out of the many children present, he was chosen for the lead role in ‘Salaam Bombay!’ by Mira Nair, a film that went on to become a huge success and remains one of only three Indian films to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
Shafiq Syed’s dream that vanished
After the film became a huge hit, Shafiq thought of making acting his career. To be honored by President of India and winning the National Film Award were some of the happiest moments of his life. But soon, he stopped working as an actor. Feeling abandoned, he left Bombay and returned to his hometown Bangalore. Once home, he stopped thinking about acting and became a rickshaw driver. He had five relatives dependent on him and earned only Rs 150 a day.
Shafiq Syed why he never felt like acting
In a 2010 interview with Open magazine, Shafiq shared, “During the shoot, I felt I didn’t have to ‘act’ at all. It consisted of language, stories and situations I had already experienced. People call themselves Salaam Bombay! an “art film”. But the truth is that it wasn’t. It was like my own story. It was India’s life on the streets. It was a life not unlike death, and I had lived it. I was assisted by co-actors Raghuvir Yadav, Nana Patekar and Anita Kanwar. I learned that acting means a character honestly “reacts” to a situation. The other person’s movements are an indication of what I should do. I had to learn all these little things. Even being myself in front of the camera was an education on set for me.”He further added, “When I came back to Bombay, the news of Salaam Bombay! appeared in various newspapers. It kept getting nominated for some award or the other, and it got a few international awards. No one called me for those awards. The only time I looked for something was when I was called for the National Award in Delhi. I went in and out of a lot of studios in Bombay, but I didn’t make it to countless films. I would go with newspaper clippings 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
Speaking to us earlier, he said, “We shot for 52 days and they agreed to pay me Rs 15,000. I was excited. After the shoot, I went to see films and enjoy Bombay street food. The film was a huge hit and when the President took photographs with me, it was all a dream. But the dream was abruptly dispersed. He roamed the streets of Mumbai, knocked on doors of the producers for almost eight months, but luck did not smile.“
Shafiq Syed’s latest movie
After ‘Salaam Bombay!’, Shafiq Syed appeared in one more film, Goutam Ghose‘Patang’, but after that he did not take up any other acting projects.