Reached Oscar, received honor from President; Still yearning for some work, today this National Award winning actor is forced to support his family by driving an auto.

Due to the glamor of the film industry, such stories often come to light where an artist becomes a star overnight, but some stories are so painful that they remain incomplete even after touching the pinnacle of success. Today we are introducing you to the reality of one such Bollywood actor, who shocked the whole world with his serious acting at the age of just 12. His very first film reached the threshold of Oscars, he received the National Award for Best Child Artist and the President of the country also honored him. But see the absurdity of fate that despite such great achievements, he did not get work in the industry and today he is forced to drive an auto on the streets of Bengaluru, living a life of anonymity. Mira Nair got global recognition from ‘Salaam Bombay’. We are talking about actor Shafiq Syed. Shafiq played the role of the main character ‘Krishna’ (Chaipav) in famous director Mira Nair’s cult classic film ‘Salaam Bombay!’, released in 1988. This film proved to be a milestone in the history of Indian cinema and was officially nominated for an Oscar in the ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category. Shafiq’s performance in the film was so lively that he was awarded the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. Real life was also like reel life: Started acting for ₹ 20 The story of Shafiq Syed’s real life has been like the script of a complete film. In the 1980s, he ran away from his home and came to Mumbai without a ticket. When he was living near Churchgate station while living on the unknown streets of Mumbai, one day a woman (from Mira Nair’s team) came to him. She offered to give ₹ 20 to the street children present there in exchange for joining an acting workshop. Hearing about the money, the other children ran away in fear, but Shafiq stayed there due to hunger. This was the turning point that changed his fate and he got the lead role in the film. The dream of meeting the President was broken, he knocked on the doors of the makers for eight months. In an old interview, Shafiq, while remembering his days of struggle, had told that the shooting of ‘Salaam Bombay’ lasted for about 52 days and he had received a fee of ₹ 15,000 for the entire film. The film was a blockbuster, received accolades in the country and abroad and after receiving the honor from the President, it felt as if he had touched the sky. But this beautiful dream was broken very soon. After the success of the film, Shafiq visited all the big producers and studios of Mumbai for about eight months, but no one showed interest in giving him work. Suicide attempt and return to Bengaluru: Shafiq later did a small role in famous director Gautam Ghosh’s film ‘Patang’, but this did not take his career forward. Ultimately, tired of trying his luck on the big screen and getting constant rejections, he left Mumbai forever in 1993 and returned to his hometown Bengaluru. Driven an auto on a daily wage of ₹ 150, still living a life of simplicity. After coming to Bengaluru, Shafiq Syed started driving an auto rickshaw to feed the five members of his family. This artist, who was once garnering applause in theaters across the world, started sweating on the streets to earn a daily wage of just ₹ 150. Shafiq had also made this painful revelation that due to broken dreams and poverty, he had become so depressed that he even tried to commit suicide twice. In an interview given in 2013, Shafiq had emotionally said that his biggest regret was that he did not study in his childhood. He believes that if he had been educated, he might have been able to understand the ways of the film industry and could have gone a long way in cinema. He does not want his children to face the difficulties he saw. Later, he left auto driving and did some work as a technician in Kannada TV serials. Today, Shafiq has left all the fame behind and is fulfilling the responsibilities of his family with utmost simplicity and self-respect.