It is back to the slums for ‘Salaam Bombay`s’ poster boy

Bangalore, Mar 08: Reel bytes were intoxicatingly heady but when reality bites the hangover could be excruciatingly painful was the pungent truth that 32-year-old Shafiqu Syed, the one-time celebrated child star of the Oscar-nominated film "Salaam Bombay" and now a rickshaw driver has realised, two decades after he shot into stardom.Once a Mumbai slumdog, who scraped through bottoms of garbage bins to eke a livelihood to now plying autorickshaw for 12 hours-a-day, Shafiqu says the struggle continues, despite a dramatic interlude in his life (starring in the film and President`s medal for the best child artiste).

Shafiqu endeared himself to moviegoers in the role of Krishna, nicknamed chaipav, in Mira Nair directed film that took a hard look at street kids living life on the edge. Twenty years after walking into hall of fame, Shafiqu said he cheered loudest when this year the slum children and child artistes of the Oscar winning film `Slumdog Millionnaire` walked the red carpet in Los Angeles that night. "It gladdened my heart knowing that it was the slum children that got the world to sit up and notice India," but down in his heart, he hoped that the Slumdog Millionnaire story turns into a reality for the kids, unlike his own. Life has changed little for the once-12-year-old boy who was told the future held great promises as he posed for the paparazzi and read with delight next-day headlines that said he had won a louder applause than even the then Phalke award winner, Ashok Kumar, at the award night. Shafiqu minces no words when he points out that "I feel the story of Slumdog Millionnaire is an incredible one. Tell me have you heard of a single slum child making to being Mr Money Bags. Ask Sharukh Khan or Amitabh who have hosted the show, how many slum children made it there." Though he adores AR Rahman and feels the musical genius deserved the award, he expressed surprise that a true story like ‘Salaam Bomba’y failed to garner an award. He candidly remarks that prejudices play a role in keeping Indian directors away from the statuette. An overseas director carries home awards on films made based on our country is sheer irony, he remarks. Still nursing dreams of bagging that statuette, the once-slum dweller of Churchgate says that the eight years spent in Mumbai slums (where he ran off just to behold the sight of the sea!) would take the form of a book and later possibly a film, he hopes. "During my free time in between dropping off passengers, I am scripting the book. I hope somebody would take interest and turn it into a film. It gives you the biting reality of the slums of Mumbai seen from the eye of a 12-year-old. It talks about why the innocent ones turned to prostitutes, indulge in drugs, get into crime. It is a first hand account of living off the streets. It is an eye-opener," he says. A President`s medal and photographs with eminent persons as well as camera technician certificate in his hand after the film did little to fetch him a role in the film industry as an actor or as a technician, Shafiqu says. "So frustrated was I that I tore up the award certificate," he said. This move of his earned him strong admonishment from his heart-broken mother. Except for a brief stint in NFDC where he was forced to quit owing to differences with a senior and a brief stint with a leading television house which he found difficult to sustain due to his poor biodata, it has been the rickshaw that has been ensuring that he kept his body and soul alive. Earning a measly sum of Rs 150 a day is different from being treated at five-star hotels post-Salaam Bombay euphoria, giving umpteen interviews to the media, being in the glare of the media, before blinking into oblivion and penury, said Shafique, who lives in a one-room tenement here. "After the movie, my mother pawned all our vessels, the ornaments meant for sister`s marriage to fund my return to Mumbai and make a name for myself. It grieves me to know I could do little to redeem her sacrifice," he says. "I have worked very hard but nothing happened. Neither a decent job, a film career or fame all in that order," he sayswhile trying to state course of events how he tried to chaselady luck, who chose to smile but just once at him, never giving him a second chance. Bureau Report