FAREWELL, CHANDRASHEKHAR

VETERAN ACTOR CHANDRASHEKHAR PASSED AWAY RECENTLY. DEVESH SHARMA OFFERS A SHORT PROFILE OF HIS LIFE AND TIMES

- DEVESH SHARMA

(JULY 7, 1922-JUNE 16, 2021)

They say Mumbai is a city of dreams. Sometimes, those who dream have to sleep on the footpath. One such person was the veteran actor Chandrashekhar. He started life in the movies as an ‘ordinary’ extra, who were paid 1.50 rupees per day in the 40s. The ‘decent’ extras were paid Rs 8. From ordinary extra, he soon became a decent extra. He preferred working in Devika Rani’s Bombay Studios, which paid Rs 10 and whose canteen offered subsidised food. In his initial years, he spent the days working in the studios and used to sleep on the footpath as accommodation was too costly in Mumbai.

Chandrashekhar was born as Chandrashekhar Vaidya in Hyderabad on July 7, 1922. He got married when he was just a teenager. Hard times befell his family and he left schooling and started doing odd jobs. He left for Bangalore at the age of 18 and worked in a factory pushing trolleys for a meagre wage. Later, he came to Mumbai to try his luck in the film industry. Life in Mumbai didn’t prove to be easy. As said earlier, he was sleeping on the footpath, which wasn’t safe. He decided to shift to Pune as the cost of living was much lower in Pune. It’s said singer Shamshad Begum helped him get a job with a fixed salary at a studio in Pune. He was able to afford a house in a chawl and called his wife to live with him there.