If you were a keen Bollywood buff in the 1990s, you wouldn’t have missed watching Chandrachur Singh on the big screen. The actor, who shared screen space with the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, and Tabu, was a fixture in Bollywood films back then before he had to take a backseat in the early 2000s after a fatal injury. (Also Read: This actor was once Rajinikanth’s competitor, suffered paralysis, then built a business worth ₹3300 crore)
Chandrachur’s life and career
Chandrachur belongs to an illustrious family as his father, Baldev Singh is an ex-MLA from Khair (Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh), and his mother, Krishna Kumari Devi, is the daughter of Maharaja of Bolangir in Odisha. He completed his schooling from The Doon School in Dehradun and higher education from St Stepehen’s College in Delhi University.
He prepared for the UPSC entrance examination as he wished to be an IAS officer. However, he soon gave up on those dreams and made his acting debut in Joy Augustine’s 1996 romantic film Tere Mere Sapne alongside Arshad Warsi and Simran. The film was produced by Amitabh Bachchan’s banner ABCL. He got critical acclaim for his performance as a terrorist in Gulzar’s period political thriller Maachis the same year, in which he was cast opposite Tabu.
Chandrachur appeared in several key films in the subsequent years, including Mansoor Khan’s 2000 romantic action drama Josh, alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. He was also seen in Kundan Shah’s 2000 romantic drama Kya Kehna opposite Preity Zinta, Raj Kanwar’s 1999 action movie Daag: The Fire, and the 2001 comedy Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa, in which he reunited with Tabu.
Career downfall
However, Chandrachur suffered a fatal injury in the early 2000s while skiing in Goa. That led to him being unable to do long shoots and work out, leading to weight gain and missing film offers. In an interview with Mid-Day in 2020, Chandrachur looked back at that phase of his career. “I went through a phase of disillusionment, but a sense of surrender came along soon after. When you’re inducted into the industry with a film like Maachis, your expectations are higher. But I could showcase my abilities based only on the offers that came my way. I am happy with the little work I have done. I didn’t want to sell myself short.”
Chandrachur made a notable comeback years later with Ram Madhvani’s 2020 gangster show Aarya on Disney+ Hotstar, in which he played Sushmita Sen’s husband. He was also seen alongside Akshay Kumar in Ranjit Tiwari’s 2022 psychological crime thriller Cuttputlli, which also dropped on Hotstar.