# Shafiq Syed

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{{Short description|Indian auto rickshaw driver and former child actor}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
'''Shafiq Syed''' (born 1976) is an Indian [auto rickshaw](/source/auto_rickshaw) driver and former child actor. At the age of twelve, he played the lead role in [Mira Nair](/source/Mira_Nair)'s [Academy Award](/source/Academy_Award)-nominated film ''[Salaam Bombay!](/source/Salaam_Bombay!)'' (1988), for which he also received the 1989 [National Film Award for Best Child Artist](/source/National_Film_Award_for_Best_Child_Artist) at the [36th National Film Awards](/source/36th_National_Film_Awards).<ref name="36thawardPDF">{{cite web|url=http://dff.nic.in/2011/36nfa.pdf|title=36th National Film Awards|publisher=[Directorate of Film Festivals](/source/Directorate_of_Film_Festivals)|accessdate=9 January 2012}}</ref> As an adult, he drives an auto rickshaw in [Bengaluru](/source/Bengaluru) and also works as an assistant in television production units.
 
==Career==
Syed grew up in Bangalore [slum](/source/slum)s, before running away to Bombay (now [Mumbai](/source/Mumbai)) with some friends, "just to see if what we saw in Hindi movies ([Bollywood](/source/Bollywood)) were right". In the following years, he lived as one of the [street children](/source/street_children) living on the pavements near [Churchgate railway station](/source/Churchgate_railway_station).<ref name=telegraph/><ref>{{cite web | title = Salaam Bombay actor Shafiq Syed lands in hard times|publisher=India Today| url = https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/your-week/story/19990301-salaam-bombay-actor-shafiq-syed-lands-in-hard-times-780270-1999-02-28 |date= 1 March 1999 |access-date = 2014-06-15 }}</ref>

After doing one more film, ''[Patang](/source/Patang_(film))'' (1994) directed by [Goutam Ghose](/source/Goutam_Ghose), he returned to Bangalore in 1993. In 2009, after the success of ''[Slumdog Millionaire](/source/Slumdog_Millionaire)'', also known for its child actors, he was spotted as an [autorickshaw](/source/autorickshaw) driver in Bangalore and interviewed by ''[The Times of India](/source/The_Times_of_India)''.<ref name=toi>{{cite web | title = 'Salaam' star now a rickshaw driver | url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Salaam-star-now-a-rickshaw-driver/articleshow/4225852.cms?referral=PM 
| accessdate = 2014-06-15 |author=Seethalakshmi S.|date= 5 March 2009 | work = [The Times of India](/source/The_Times_of_India) }}</ref>  
Thereafter, in May 2012, he was working as an assistant in production companies making Kannada television soaps. It was reported that Syed had written his life's story, running into 180 pages. "I have...titled it ''After Salaam Bombay''" he said. "Hope someone will take it up for production".<ref name=telegraph>{{cite web | title = Salaam Bombay tea boy to TV help | url = https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/salaam-bombay-tea-boy-to-tv-help-mira-nairs-child-star-earns-living-as-floor-assistant/cid/420568#:~:text=Shafiq%20Syed%2C%20who%20played%20%E2%80%9CChaipau,light%20boy%20in%20movie%20units. |author=K.M. Rakesh|date=1 May 2012|publisher=[The Telegraph (Kolkata)](/source/The_Telegraph_(Kolkata))| accessdate = 2020-10-03 }}</ref>

He is married and lives in a Bangalore suburb, 30&nbsp;km  from the main city, with his  wife, mother and three sons and a daughter.<ref name=telegraph/><ref>{{cite web | title = Salaam Bombay actor learns life's lesson |work=Daily News & Analysis 
| url = http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report-salaam-bombay-actor-learns-lifes-lesson-1810940 |author=Aishhwariya Subramanian|date=14 March 2013| accessdate = 2014-06-15}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Role !! Scope="col"|Notes 
|-
| 1988 || ''[Salaam Bombay!](/source/Salaam_Bombay!)'' || Krishna alias Chaipau || 
|-
| 1993 || ''[Patang](/source/Patang_(film))'' || Somra ||
|-
| 2015 || ''[Care of Footpath 2](/source/Care_of_Footpath_2)'' || Coconut Vendor || Kannada-Hindi bilingual film
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0787359}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syed, Shafiq}}
Category:1976 births
Category:Living people
Category:Indian male child actors
Category:Male actors in Hindi cinema
Category:20th-century Indian male actors
Category:Male actors from Mumbai
Category:Male actors from Bengaluru
Category:Indian male film actors
Category:Best Child Artist National Film Award winners

{{India-film-actor-1970s-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Shafiq Syed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shafiq_Syed) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shafiq_Syed?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.