Shyam (actor)

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Shyam
Shyam in 1948
Born
Shyam Sundar Chadha

(1920-02-20)20 February 1920
Sialkot, Punjab, British India
Died25 April 1951(1951-04-25) (aged 31)
EducationGordon College
OccupationActor
Years active1942 – 1951
Spouse
Mumtaz Qureshi ('Taji')
​
​
(m. 1949⁠–⁠1951)​
ChildrenSahira Kazmi (daughter)
Shakir (son)
RelativesRahat Kazmi (son-in-law)
Ali Kazmi (grandson)
Nida Kazmi (granddaughter)

Shyam Sundar Chadha (20 February 1920 – 25 April 1951)[1] better known mononymously as Shyam, was an Indian actor in Hindi cinema. He began his career in 1942 and worked in over 30 films until his death in 1951 at the age of 31.[2]

Early life[edit]

Shyam was born as Shyam Sundar Chadha on 20 February 1920 in Sialkot, Punjab but grew up in Rawalpindi.[1][3] Shyam graduated from Gordon College in Rawalpindi. He was a close friend of Saadat Hasan Manto and was the inspiration to many of his stories.[4][5] Even after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, their friendship remained strong.[4]

Career[edit]

Shyam's film career began in 1942 with the Punjabi film Gowandhi.[4] In 1944, he moved to Bombay and started acting in Hindi films. He acted opposite several of the top actresses of the time such as Nargis, Suraiya, Nigar Sultana and Nalini Jaywant.[6] One of his most famous movies was Bazaar, released in 1949, in which he starred with Nigar Sultana. Some of his other notable films include Room No. 9 (1943), Aaj Aur Kal (1944), W. Z. Ahmed's Man Ki Jeet (1944), Majboor (1948), Chandni Raat (1948), Char Din (1949), Dillagi (1949), Patanga (1949), Naach (1949), Kaneez (1949), Bazar (1949), Meena Bazaar (1950) and Samadhi (1950). Dillagi (1949), opposite Suraiya was the most successful film in his career. In 2021, National Film Archive of India, Pune added the film its collection.[7] Deepa Gahlot praised the film and added it in her book 50 Films that Deserve a New Audience.[8] Shyam's last film was Shabistan, opposite Naseem Banu, that was released in 1951 after his death.[4][1]

Personal life[edit]

Shyam married Mumtaz Qureshi (also called “Taji”) and they had two children together. The elder was a daughter, Sahira, and the younger was a son, Shakir, who was born two months after Shyam's death.[1] It was a troubled marriage and according to some reports, Mumtaz had reportedly moved out to live with her sister Zeb Qureshi (a small-time actress in Bombay) before Shyam's death in an accident.[4] However, it is also said that she had gone, as per Indian custom, to her maternal family in order to give birth to her child.

After Shyam's sudden death in 1951 in a horse-riding accident, Mumtaz migrated to Pakistan with her elder sister, Zeb Qureshi, who was her closest surviving relative, and they settled in Lahore. Mumtaz later married a Pakistani man named Ansari, due to which Shyam's children were sometimes known by the surname Ansari.[9] Both of Shyam's children thus grew up in Pakistan and were raised as Muslims. Shyam's daughter Sahira followed in her late father's footsteps and became an actress, working in Pakistani TV serials. She is married since 1974 to the Pakistani TV actor Rahat Kazmi and they are the parents of two children, Ali (son) and Nida (daughter). Shyam's son Shakir pursued higher education and is a psychiatrist based in the United Kingdom.

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
1942 Gowandhi Punjabi film
Tamasha Shyam
Society Shyam
1943 Nagad Narayan
1944 Man Ki Jeet [10]
1946 Room No. 9
1947 Aaj Aur Kal [11]
1948 Shikayat
Chandni Raat
Majboor
1949 Char Din
Naach
Kaneez Akhtar [12]
Dillagi Swaroop Playback singer in — "Tu Mera Chand", "Zalim Jamana Mujh ko" [13][14]
Patanga Shyam [15]
Raat Ki Rani
Dada
1950 Meena Bazar Shyam [16]
Sangeeta
Samadhi Suresh [17]
Surajmukhi
1951 Albela Shyamu
Shabistan Posthumous film

Death and legacy[edit]

Shyam died while filming on the set of Shabistan in 1951 after he fell off a horse during filming and fractured his skull. He was immediately rushed to the hospital but did not survive. His few remaining scenes were completed with a body-double who had a similar height to him and filmed from behind without showing his face. This film's shooting was being done in Bombay.[1][9][2][4]

Some people still speculate to this day that had he lived longer, due to his good looks, he would have given stiff competition to the 1950s popular film heroes, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor.[1]

Veteran film actress Suraiya reportedly said about Shyam:

"I often thought of him as the Errol Flynn of India... ...Shyam was very conscious of his height whenever he was on the sets with me, just as I was very conscious of my short stature whenever I worked with him. He was in the habit of teasing my granny often and had become almost a member of our family.[1]"

In popular culture[edit]

Manto and Shyam became close friends in real life because they both worked together for Bombay Talkies.[1] In his book titled, 'Stars from Another Sky'; Manto dedicated a chapter to Shyam titled 'Murli Ki Dhun'. In this book, Manto describes Shyam's attempts to flirt with fellow actresses Kuldip Kaur, Nigar Sultana as well as actress Mumtaz Qureshi. Later, Shyam married Qureshi. Manto found Shyam to be fun-loving, liberal in his thinking and a man with a wandering eye for good looking women.[4][1]

Tahir Raj Bhasin portrayed Shyam in the Hindi film by Nandita Das, Manto (2018), a biopic on the noted writer.[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Karan Bali (2015). "Shyam's profile". Upperstall.com website. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b Mishra, Vijay (2002). Bollywood Cinema. Routledge. pp. xiii. ISBN 978-0-415-93014-7.
  3. ^ Ahmed, Ishtiaq (2 November 2013). "An evening with actor Shyam's family". Daily Times (newspaper). Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Shyam (actor) - a profile Indian Cinema Heritage Foundation website, Retrieved 19 January 2022
  5. ^ Mufti, Aamir (2007). Enlightenment in the Colony. Princeton University Press. pp. 206. ISBN 978-0-691-05732-3.
  6. ^ Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (1999). Encyclopaedia of Indian cinema. British Film Institute. ISBN 978-0-85170-669-6. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  7. ^ "NFAI enriches its collection by adding 8 rare Hindi films of 1940's and 1950's". Press Information Bureau. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  8. ^ Gahlot, Deepa (October 2015). Take-2: 50 Films That Deserve a New Audience. Hay House. ISBN 9789384544850.
  9. ^ a b Ishtiaq Ahmed (24 June 2012). "Actor Shyam (1920-1951) who died very young". Academy of the Punjab in North America (APNA) website. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  10. ^ Ghosh, Oindrila. "Bollywood's Long Love Affair with Thomas Hardy's Novels: Adaptations and Cultural Appropriations". Victorian Web.
  11. ^ "Khwaja Khurshid Anwar Collected Works". online database. Khwaja Khurshid Anwar Trust. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  12. ^ "Kaneez (1949 film)". Complete Index To World Film (CITWF) website. 1 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  13. ^ Box Office India. "Top Earners 1949". boxofficeindia.com. Archived from the original on 14 June 2010. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
  14. ^ Tilak Rishi (2012). Bless You Bollywood!: A Tribute to Hindi Cinema on Completing 100 Years. Trafford Publishing. pp. 106–. ISBN 978-1-4669-3963-9.
  15. ^ "Patanga". Filmindia. 15 (5): 312. May 1949. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Actor Shyam's film Meena Bazaar (1950 film)". Upperstall.com website. 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  17. ^ "That license to thrill: Espionage - Hindi film style - Latest Movie Features - Bollywood Hungama". Bollywood Hungama. Archived from the original on 30 January 2015.
  18. ^ "Watch: Nawazuddin Siddiqui aces Manto's look and quirks in Nandita Das' short film". Firstpost. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2022.

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