SRINAGAR: The foremost Kashmiri actor-director in Bollywood, Tariq Shah is no more. He was suffering from a kidney ailment and died in a Mumbai hospital on April 3, 2021. He was 68.
Tariq Shah was suffering from kidney problems for the last two years and was also put on dialysis. He was admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai a couple of days back.
A scion of Nishati family of Srinagar, Tariq was the youngest brother of Yasin Shah, the NC leader who represented Sonawar assembly segment.
Tariq Shah, his co-professionals said, had started his career in the early 1970s from Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar when he was anchoring the youth programme Nayea Chirag. Soon, he shifted to plays as an actor. Shah played major roles in various plays and television films. At DD Srinagar, he acted for plays with D N Goswami, ZafferAhmad, and Mehmmod Qurashi.
The smart actor later shifted to Mumbai in the early 1980s and started working in films like Janam Kudli, Bhahar Aanay Tak. Tariq also directed many feature films including Gumnaam Hai Koi and Mumbai Central. He was an actor in Kaliga, the incomplete film directed by Dilip Kumar. Tariq also directed the film Aaye Teri Yaad. He also directed the famed TV serial Kadwa Sach. He is said to have been a sort of discovery by Dilip Kumar, his life long inspiration.
Tariq eventually settled in Mumbai after he married famous Bollywood actress Shoma Anad in 1997. They have a daughter, Sarah. He is being seen as the first Kashmiri Muslim actor who made Mumbai his home and proved his capacity.
His last Facebook post on March 31, was an interesting post – what a strange attitude of humans. “Where a chance of winning a lottery is one in a million, he feels he has every chance of winning it,” the post read. “Where a virus can infect a million, he feels very confident that he will not get infected.”
