Shadaab Khan

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

The early ’90s decade saw the emergence of Khans in Bollywood. Aamir Khan was the first to arrive as the romantic lead in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) followed by Salman Khan in Maine Pyar Kiya (1989). Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) transitioned from television to movies with Deewana in 1992 and Saif Ali too got introduced the next year in Parampara.

Around the same time, one more Khan was waiting to be launched as the hero in Bollywood. His father was the legendary Bollywood villain of his time and even resembled him to an extent. Yet, this Khan had to wait for a few years before bagging his debut film and sadly, couldn’t achieve the success like Aamir, Salman and SRK. Yes, we are talking about Shadaab Khan, the son of late great Amjad Khan. So, let’s explore his life story in our Qamyab series…

Amjad Khan needs no introduction to our readers. He has attained immortality by portraying the main antagonist Gabbar Singh in Ramesh Sippy’s all time biggest blockbuster Sholay (1975). Incidentally, Shadaab was born on 20th September, 1973, the day Amjad signed on the dotted line to play Gabbar in Sholay.

Shadaab came from an illustrious filmy background as almost his entire family worked in Hindi films. His grandfather Jayant (Zakaria Khan) was a veteran actor of the early era. His uncle Imtiaz Khan was an actor himself and married to Kruttika Desai, another well-known actor in Bollywood. Shadaab has two siblings – Seemab and Ahlam.

After completing his school from Manekji Cooper in Bombay (now Mumbai), Shadaab was aspiring for a Bollywood launch in the early ’90s. Unfortunately, his father Amjad passed away in July 1992, which delayed his debut by a few years. Shadaab was grossly overweight at that time and took lot of efforts to lose the extra flab as well as groomed himself for a proper acting debut.

At that time, noted actor Vinod Khanna was planning Himalayputra (1997) as a launchpad for his son Akshaye. Shadaab was offered a role in Himalayputra but after some deliberation, he passed this role feeling the focus would be on Akshaye Khanna and not him.

Finally, Shadaab Khan’s Bollywood debut happened with Salim Akhtar’s Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat (1997) with another debutant Rani Mukherjee as his heroine. The film was a women-oriented social drama with Shadaab’s character having negative shades. He played a rich playboy, who rapes the heroine and is later, forced to marry her.

Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat was a moderate box office success but its entire credit went to Rani Mukherjee, who signed some big movies thereafter. Shadaab’s performance garnered mixed reviews as he was unfairly compared to his dad Amjad Khan.

The same year, Shadaab Khan appeared in a negative role in Betaabi (1997), which had Arshad Warsi and Chandrachur Singh in lead roles. Betaabi came and went unnoticed and suddenly, Shadaab’s career was in doldrums.

Looking back, Shadaab feels that his debut was a mistake. He had lost a lot of weight to look the proverbial hero but that actually made him look grumpy, thin and raw.

Next, Shadaab Khan appeared in small roles in two big films of 2000: Kamal Haasan’s Hey Ram and J.P. Dutta’s Refugee. In Hey Ram, Shadaab got to work with his Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat co-star Rani Mukherjee again and coincidentally, had a rape scene with her in both these films. Hey Ram was a critical success but a commercial failure. Refugee too didn’t work wonders at the box office.

By this time, Shadaab Khan had realised his acting career was going nowhere and hence, he decided to shift to his other passion, which was writing. Not many know that Amjad Khan was a proficient writer himself and Shadaab had inherited his genes.

Shadaab wrote two successful novels- Shanti Memorial in 2013 and Murder in Bollywood in 2014. The Bollywood superstar and his father’s friend Amitabh Bachchan graced the book launch as chief guest.

In his personal life, Shadaab married Rumana Achwa in 2005. He stays with his mother Shehla Khan and Rumana in his plush Bandra home. Shadaab Khan was away from Bollywood for nearly seventeen years until an interesting movie offer came his way.

The film was Romeo Akbar Walter (2019), a spy thriller featuring John Abraham in the lead. Shadaab had a small but pivotal role in it. Romeo Akbar Walter wasn’t a big success but Shadaab finally got noticed for his performance.