Shafi Inamdar

Shafi Ali Inamdar
Born	(1945-10-23)23 October 1945 Pangari, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died	13 March 1996(1996-03-13) (aged 50) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation(s)	Actor, Producer, Director
Years active	1960–1995
Spouse	Bhakti Barve

Shafi Inamdar (23 October 1945 – 13 March 1996) was an Indian actor. He started his film career with the film Vijeta and continued it in Ardh Satya. He acted in a number of television serials including Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. Shafi married actress Bhakti Barve. He died on 13 March 1996. His wife died in a road accident on 12 February 2001. Shafi's most notable film roles include the inspector in Aaj Ki Awaz, the villain in Awam and the friend of the hero in films like Nazrana, Anokha Rishta, Sagar, Amrit. Some of his other films are Kudrat Ka Kanoon, Jurm, Sadaa Suhagan and Love 86, all successful films.

Life and career

Shafi Inamdar received his early education at Pangari Dapoli, Ratnagiri, MS and at St. Joseph's High School in Umerkhadi (Dongri) in Mumbai, India, where he passed his S.S.C exam in 1958. He did his B.Sc from K.C College in 1963. He is particularly known for playing the common man's role. He has acted in numerous television shows, the most notable being Kundan Shah's Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, telecast on Doordarshan in the 80s which made him a household name. The show went on to become so popular that it even started affecting the business of films, as it used to be aired late on Friday nights. The serial was such a hit that it ran for 61 episodes when generally a serial ran for a maximum of 25 weeks. One of his last performances on television was in Teri Bhi Chup Meri Bhi Chup. He also played the role of an advocate in the Hindi film Yeshwant, which was released after his death. He appeared in Ramesh Sippy's film Saagar. Inamdar also directed a film titled Hum Dono, starring Nana Patekar, Rishi Kapoor and Pooja Bhatt. The film was a hit and he was considered a good director.

From his schooling days he was interested in dramas and used to act and direct school plays. He participated in elocution competition and debates. This continued through his college days and intensified his desire to become a performing artist and a theatre personality. He started his career as an actor and director under the guidance of Gujarati theatre personality Praveen Joshi. He directed and acted in about 30 one act plays in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and English from 1973 to 1978. Later on he joined Indian National Theatre and Indian People's Theatre Association where he came in contact with Balraj Sahni and other members of Indian Theatre and learned the finer aspects of acting.

The turning point in his career was Ismat Chugtai’s play Nila Kamra, which he staged as his first commercial production in Hindi. In the late seventies when the Prithvi Theatre was started Shafi Inamdar got an opportunity to produce several Hindi plays that paved the way for establishing him as a theatre personality to be reckoned with. He founded his own theatre group Hum Productions in 1982 and directed, produced and acted in various plays. He also staged comedies and folk theatre based on human drama, Naag Mandala.

In 1984 came India’s most popular television sitcom Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, a comedy serial starring Shafi Inamdar in the main lead as the character Ranjeet Verma, Swaroop Sampat played his wife Renu while Rakesh Bedi played his brother-in-law Raja. Shafi later acted in many other television serials like Adha Sach, Aadha Jooth, Mirza Ghalib and Teri Bhi Chup meri Bhi Chup. In 1983, he made first appearance on the Hindi screen in the Shashi Kapoor produced and Govind Nihalani directed film Vijeta, followed by the hard-hitting but popular Ardh Satya. He acted in B. R. Chopra films like Aaj Ki Awaaz (for which he also won a nomination in Filmfare award for Best Supporting actor), Awaam and Dahleez and became a regular with the B. R. film camp.

One of his most notable efforts comes from the film Krantiveer, where he plays a TV Anchor, caricatured on TV Journalist Rajat Sharma of Aap Ki Adalat fame, and exposes a group of corrupted people regarding politics, law and police. His witty dialogues were appreciated along with fans and others. Krantiveer was one of the highest-grossing movies of 1994.

Shafi died on 13 March 1996 following a massive heart attack while watching india vs Sri Lanka World Cup Semifinal Match.. At the time, he was acting in a comedy show Teri Bhi Chup Meri Bhi Chup, which was shelved due to his untimely demise.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role
1982	Vijeta	Parulkar
1982	Pyara Tarana
1983	Ardh Satya	Inspector Haider Ali
1983	Aaj Ki Awaz	Inspector Shafi
1984	Hip Hip Hurray
1985	Arjun	Anand Patkar
1985	Saagar	Vikram
1986	Love 86	Ramniwas Tilak
1986	Inaam Dus Hazaar	Karamat Khan
1986	Sadaa Suhagan	Vinod
1986	Anokha Rishta	Alex Lobo
1986	Kala Dhanda Goray Log	Advocate Abdul Rahim Khan
1986	Amrit	Advocate Sharafat Ali
1987	Nazrana	Shafi
1987	Dacait	S. P. Srivastava
1987	Awam	Mohanlal
1987	Kudrat Ka Kanoon	Chunautilal
1987	Anjaam
1989	Vardi	Shambhu
1989	Ghar Ka Chiraag	Ravi's dad
1990	Jurm	Inspector Pramod Kadam
1990	Izzatdaar	Prem Chand
1990	Ghayal	Barrister Pramod Saran Gupta
1991	Phool Bane Angaray	Muralidhar
1991	Henna	Superintendent
1991	Love	Maggie's father
1992	Daulat Ki Jung	Mr Chaudhary (Rajesh's father)
1992	Sangeet
1993	Badi Bahen
1994	Krantiveer	TV Interviewer
1995	Akele Hum Akele Tum	Kaushikji (Music director)
1995	Takkar	DCP Mishra
1995	Hum Dono	Director of the movie
1997	Yeshwant	Advocate Vikram

Television

He started his activing from

Year	Series	Role
1984–86	Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi	Ranjeet
1995-96	Teri Bhi Chup Meri Bhi Chup	Ramakant
1987-88	Aadha Sach Aadha Jooth
1988	Mirza Ghalib	Mohammad Ibrahim Zauq
1996	All the Best	Dr. Raj

Awards and nominations

• 1985: Nominated: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Aaj Ki Awaaz

External links

• Shafi Inamdar at IMDb
• Shafi Inamdar at IndiaFM