Shekhar Suman

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As a child Shekhar Suman wanted to join Navy Shekhar Suman was the only boy among three sisters in the family hence he was the darling of everybody except his father, who was a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) and a well-known surgeon who practiced at the Patna Medical College and Hospital. While Shekhar’s sisters were topper in school, Shekhar was naughty, lazy and an average student in studies. Hence his father called him a black sheep and he changed different schools to give him good education. First Shekhar went to Jai Prakash Narayan's Charkha Samiti then changed to St Xavier’s in Patna and finally he was sent to Vikas Vidyalaya in Ranchi, a strict, all-boy, vegetarian school. Initially Shekhar felt out of place at the school but soon he enjoyed taking part in debating, theatre and NCC (National Cadet Corps) where he loved military training and self defense. In fact he had made up his mind to join Indian Navy but since he was the only son in the family hence his grandmother did not allow him to join Navy! Shekhar Suman got bug of acting during college While at Ramraj College in Delhi, Shekhar watched a lot of films and began imitating actors like Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar. His friends encouraged him. Further his acting in college drama fetched him awards. All this boosted his interest in theatre and he did a Diploma Course in acting from Delhi’s reputed Shri Ram Centre Acting school. After the course he joined the school as an acting teacher too!

Shekhar Suman met Alka during college Shekhar Suman studied history at Ramjas College, while Alka, was a student of IP College. It was love at first sight and the two began meeting regularly at airport lobbies where for Rs 1 they were permitted to sit unlimited. Shekhar Suman would drop Alka on his motorbike at Faridabad at her residence. After college Alka got a job and earned Rs 900 while Shekhar began working at Shri Ram Centre Acting School as a acting teacher and earned Rs 625/- The two got married with parents approval on May 4, 1983 and lived at Barsati in Defence Colony.

Rekha approved Shekhar Suman at the very first glance When Shekhar was teaching at Shri Ram Center; one day popular Bollywood actress of yesteryear Shammi (better known as Shammi Aunty) came to his acting school and hunted for an actor for a cameo role opposite Rakhee in the film Pighalta Asmaan. Shekhar Suman agreed to play the small role and came down to Mumbai. Fortunately Shekhar’s sister lived in Mumbai. Hence he spent few days with her. On the sets of Pighalta Asmaan, actor Shashi Kapoor, who played a key role, was impressed by Shekhar’s personality. He offered him the role of Charudatt in his film Utsav (1984) opposite none other than Rekha. But the condition was Rekha should approve him. Hence on the day of shooting film director Girish Karnad asked Shekhar to be ready with complete make-up and costume. When Rekha saw Shekhar dressed as Charudutt, she was delighted and approved Shekhar Suman at a single glance! Shekhar Suman became a star overnight with success of Utsav Shekhar Suman became an overnight star after Utsav, particularly the intimate romantic scene that Shekhar performed with Rekha became a national craze and people thronged cinema houses to watch the scene. Even today people keep asking Shekhar how he performed the hot scene with Rekha so convincingly, despite being new comer! Shekhar once said that he was unconscious while portraying the scene and if he had been in his senses then perhaps he would have died with heart attack due to utter excitement! After Utsav, Shekhar was flooded with offers and signed films blindly. Though he worked with top heroines like Manav Hatya (Madhuri Dixit, 1986), Anubhav (Padmini Kolhapure, 1987), Jaan Pe Khel Kar (Juhi Chawla, 1988), Pati Parmeshwar (Sudha Chandran) (1989) but in enthusiasm he did wrong films and paid a huge price. His career that went up rapidly also came down swiftly and Shekhar Suman was booted out from Bollywood. From 1989 to 1992 Shekhar was sitting idle at home while his wife Alka supported the family. After failure in films Shekhar Suman lost his son Life is not a bed of roses goes the English axiom, hence after the success of Utsav, Shekhar enjoyed the beauty of life but then his career took a nose dive. He was without work and to rub salt on injury, his son, Aayush was diagnosed with the fatal disease Myco-cardiac-fibroelastosis, a severe heart disorder and he died on June 22, 1994. This broke Shekhar completely and he lost faith in God and even abused Him! His wife Alka was numb! All the joys were shattered!! Destiny smiled again and with TV Shekhar Suman regained stardom After the death of his elder son Aayush, Shekhar was so miserable that he had began neglecting his younger son Adhyayan. Soon he realized that he needs to come out from the grief for Aayush and give time to Adhyayan. He began hunting for job and got the comedy TV serial Dekh Bhai Dekh, which became so popular that Shekhar regained his lost stardom. Soon he got another good the TV serial Movers & Shekhar and with it he became the First TV Star to be paid a whopping amount of Rs 25-crore contract! After this he never looked back! His other hit TV serial are Kabhi Idhar Kabhi Udhar, 'Chote Babu, Andaz, Amar Prem 'Aaha', Vilayati Babu, Movers n Shekhars, Simply Shekhar and Carry On Shekhar etc. He has been judge at The Great Indian Comedy Show on Star One, Comedy Circus etc.