From Winning A National Award To Driving An Auto Rickshaw: What Happened To Shafiq Syed?

Released in 1988, Salaam Bombay!, directed by Mira Nair, remains a landmark film in Indian cinema. At the centre of the story was Krishna, a 12-year-old boy brought to life by Shafiq Syed. His performance earned him a National Film Award for best child artist, while the film itself captured global attention, ultimately securing an Oscar nomination. The actor Shafiq Syed, once a global sensation, has since faded from public view and now works as an auto-rickshaw driver in Bangaluru.

Shafiq left home in the 1980s and travelled to Mumbai without a ticket, hoping to find out if the city was truly like the one he saw in Hindi films. A period of real-life struggles came next, marked by him being homeless and trying to survive on the streets near Churchgate station. Mira Nair once approached Shafiq Syed and the other kids he lived with on the street, proposing to give them 20 rupees if they would join her for an acting workshop. Shafiq was starving, so he went along with the offer even though the other kids ran away, thinking it was a scam. At the workshop, he was among a large number of children and was eventually picked to play the main character in Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, one of only three Indian movies to ever be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film also won 25 international awards, including two at Cannes.

In an interview given to Open Magazine in 2010, Shafiq said that while filming, he felt he didn't have to act at all. He explained that the movie consisted of language, stories, and situations that he had already experienced. However, the fame and glory that came did not truly transform Shafeeq's life. He wandered through the studios of Mumbai in search of opportunities, but nothing ever worked out. Even when he showed newspaper cuttings of his debut film, which highlighted the recognition it brought him, he hoped to convince people of his talent. All he received in return, however, were rejections. Shafiq acted in one more film before permanently leaving Mumbai in 1993 to return to Bengaluru.

Once he got back home, there was no time to look back; the weight of the family’s troubles was now his to carry. By 1996, with dreams set aside, he was out on the streets of Bengaluru, driving an auto-rickshaw to keep the household going. In addition to driving an auto, Shafiq also works as an assistant on the production units of Kannada television serials. In an interview, Shafiq Syed once said that while he used to have no responsibilities, the entire burden of his family was now on him. Shafiq Syed has since documented his life in a 180-page autobiography titled After Salaam Bombay, and he hopes his story will one day be made into a film.