The Forgotten Hero Chandrachur Singh, Who Could’ve Been The Next Shah Rukh Khan Of Bollywood!
Remember Daag: The Fire? The movie that starred Mahima Chaudhry in a double role along with Sanjay Dutt and Chandrachur Singh. It still bothers us that the movie was titled Daag: The Fire and not Aag: The Fire. Daag here doesn’t mean blot, but in Punjabi Daagna means losing everything in fire.
It has been 21 years since the movie released, and the first thing that comes to our mind when we think of it is — where is Chandrachur Singh?
He has not been in the movie business for a long time now. What happened to him?
Like other forgotten heroes of his generation (for instance, Mukul Dev and Rahul Roy) he didn’t appear on Bigg Boss to hog the limelight. He didn’t even join politics like Sunny Deol or Urmila Matondkar, and neither did he buy an IPL team like Preity Zinta. He is not even on Twitter retweeting grammatically incorrect compliments or on Instagram posting his oh-so-hot pictures that leave us pleasantly shocked!
Well, it’s good that he is not trying so hard and doing crazy things to stay in the limelight, but, where is he?
Fact is, you can tell a lot about the industry by how it treats its side heroes. There have been many like him who came, conquered and soon faded away in oblivion. So, this is our ode to Chandrachur Singh, the forgotten hero who could have been the Shah Rukh Khan of Bollywood.
After a stellar debut in Tere Mere Sapne and critically acclaimed performance in Maachis, followed by in 1996, it didn’t look like anything could go wrong for Chandrachur Singh. But luck wasn’t on his side, it seems.
In one of the best songs Bollywood has ever made, Chappa Chappa Charkha Chale, Chandrachur Singh’s smile was the highlight.
Did you know, Chandrachur Singh won filmfare best debut for Maachis.
He became an instant hit with female fans with a strong role in Josh.
Didn’t we all drool over those innocent chocolaty boy looks and those eyes you could see his heart through.
We crushed over him while he crushed over Aishwarya Rai in the song Mere Khayalon Ki Mallika!
Our hearts fluttered and we all went like, Haye Mera Dil Chura Ke Le Gaya… Churane Wala… Chandrachur Singh!
But destiny was cruel to his talent and he suffered multiple dislocations of his shoulder joint during the shoot of the film.
His appearances post that in movies like Kya Kehna and Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa among others were sporadic and mostly unnoticed.
But then, he did make a comeback sporting a handlebar moustache without a beard just like he did in Maachis.
He no longer played the hero but the character on the sidelines in movies such as Chaar Din Ki Chandni, Zilla Ghaziabad and Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
“A lot of people feel that I got films like Maachis and Tere Mere Sapne just like that. Mujhe aise hi kaam nahi mile tha! I came to Mumbai in 1988 and assisted Mahesh Bhatt, and I had to struggle a lot before I got the break. There were some big films from which I was replaced at the last moment. Fighting through that phase gave me a lot of inner strength and made me a tough person. For someone whose entry in the film industry was so difficult, handling the downfall was much easier. I utilized my time very constructively, watching world cinema, reading books and listening to classical music,” he in an interview.
A couple of years later, he was seen in Govinda’s comeback movie Aa Gaya Hero and Yadvi – The Dignified Princess. Both movies didn’t make a lot of buzz, and Chandrachur Singh’s comeback went unnoticed.
From hero to character roles, Chandrachur Singh showed his versatility through distinct roles through his career. Be it a militant in an off-beat movie like Maachis or a die-hard romantic role in movies like Kya Kehna, he proved his mettle and caught people’s fancy. In a short span of time, he won millions of hearts.
But he hasn’t given up on acting yet. If reports are to be believed, he is shooting for a web-series that marks the comeback of Sushmita Sen.