Shyama, star of Guru Dutt's Aar-Paar, dies at 82

The actress Shyama, born Khurshid Akhtar, died, aged 82, of a lung infection in Mumbai on Tuesday morning. Her funeral took place at a cemetery at Marine Lines in the afternoon.

Shyama arrived in Mumbai from Lahore in the 1940s. As a young girl, she acted in a few films like Zeenat (1945) and Meerabai (1947) and went on to act in around 175 films in her career. It was filmmaker Vijay Bhatt who suggested that she change her name from Khurshid, which was quite a common name in the film industry then, to Shyama.

Her most famous role was in Guru Dutt’s Aar-Paar (1954), where she played the rebellious Nikki. She had already married cinematographer Fali Mistry by then but did not give up acting. She also appeared in films like Mirza Sahiban (1957), Bhabhi (1957) and Sharada (1957), for which she won the Filmfare award for Best Supporting Actress.

Shyama is survived by two sons and a daughter. Her husband Fali Mistry died in 1979.