Shafiq Syed (born 1976) is an Indian

auto rickshaw An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...

driver and former child actor. At the age of twelve, he played the lead role in

Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural sphe ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated film ''

Salaam Bombay! ''Salaam Bombay!'' is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language drama film, directed, co-written and co-produced by Mira Nair. The screenwriter was Nair's creative collaborator Sooni Taraporevala. This was the first feature film directed by Nair. The film d ...

'' (1988), for which he also received the 1989

National Film Award for Best Child Artist The National Film Award for Best Child Artist is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards pr ...

at the

36th National Film Awards The 36th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1988. Ceremony took place ...

. As an adult, he drives an auto rickshaw in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

and also works as an assistant in television production units. Syed grew up in Bangalore

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

s, before running away to Bombay (now

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

) with some friends, "just to see if what we saw in Hindi movies (

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

) were right". In the following years, he lived as one of the

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policym ...

living on the pavements near

Churchgate railway station Churchgate (station code: CCG) is the southern terminus on the Western Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is located in Churchgate in South Mumbai, Maharashtra. History Early history The Fort area built by the British had three main gate ...

. After doing one more film, ''

Patang Fighter kites are kites used for the sport of kite fighting. Traditionally most are small, unstable single-line flat kites where line tension alone is used for control, at least part of which is manja, typically glass-coated cotton strands, ...

'' (1994) directed by

Goutam Ghose Goutam Ghose (also spelled Gautam Ghosh born 24 July 1950) is an Indian film director, Actor, music director and cinematographer, who works primarily in Bengali cinema. He is the only Indian to have received the "Vittorio Di Sica" Award, Italy ...

, he returned to Bangalore in 1993. In 2009, after the success of ''

Slumdog Millionaire ''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...

'', also known for its child actors, he was spotted as an

autorickshaw An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...

driver in Bangalore and interviewed by ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

''. 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". He is married and lives in a Bangalore suburb, 30 km from the main city, with his wife, mother and three sons and a daughter.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1976 births Living people Indian male child actors Male actors in Hindi cinema 20th-century Indian male actors Male actors from Mumbai Male actors from Bangalore Indian male film actors Best Child Artist National Film Award winners {{India-film-actor-stub