Chandrashekhar Vaidya

Chandrashekhar Vaidya, known simply as Chandrashekhar, was an Indian actor and filmmaker who worked in the Bollywood film industry for over five decades. He started his career as a junior artist and went on to play lead and supporting roles in more than 250 films and TV serials. He was best known for his musical film Cha Cha Cha (1964), which he produced, directed and acted in, and for his role of Arya Sumant in the epic television series Ramayan (1987). He also served as the president of the Cine Artistes Association (CINTAA) from 1985 to 1996. He was born in Hyderabad on 7 July 1922 and moved to Bombay in the early 1940s to pursue his acting dream. He got his first break in Bebus (1950) and then appeared in films like Surang (1953), Kali Topi Lal Rumal (1959), Barsaat Ki Raat (1960), Jahan Ara (1964), Kati Patang (1970), Shakti (1982), Namak Halaal (1982), Sharaabi (1984) and many more. He worked with prominent directors and actors of his era, such as V. Shantaram, Bhagwan, B.R. Chopra, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, Shakti Samanta, Ramanand Sagar, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Bharat Bhushan, Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan. He also decided to work as an assistant director to Gulzar at the age of 50, when he felt he needed to do more in the film industry. He retired from the film scene in 2000 after his last film Khauff. He died of age-related illness on 16 June 2021 at his residence in Mumbai at the age of 98. He was survived by his son, daughter and grandson Shakti Arora, who is also a TV actor.