Dino Shafeek

Dino Shafeek (born Gholam D. Shafeek, 21 March 1930 – 10 March 1984) was a Bangladeshi actor and comedian based in the United Kingdom and the star or co-star of several popular English TV comedies during the 1970s and early 1980s. He is best remembered for playing the part of Chai Wallah Muhammed in the BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum as well as the role of Ali Nadim in ITV sitcom Mind Your Language.

Early life

Mohiuddin Jahangir later changed is name to Golam D Shafeek was born in Dacca (now Dhaka), East Bengal, British India (now Bangladesh) . He came from a very well known family of Dhaka. His father (Golam Meraj Uddin) was a Sugar Technologist. Members of his family are still living in the house in Old Dhaka where he embarked from for his journey to England in the year 1958. He went on to matriculate from a high school in Dhaka and then attended Dacca University where he gained a Bachelor of Arts. During this time, Shafeek became very active in amateur theater in Dhaka. In the 1950s, he came to England and enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Career

Due to his inexperience Shafeek struggled to find fulfilling acting roles after graduating from Guildhall School. He was largely confined to playing minor supporting parts such as immigrants, taxi drivers, tourists or customs officials. His first film role was as ‘Akbar’ in the film The Long Duel (1967), starring Yul Brynner.

It Ain't Half Hot Mum

In the series written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army and set in World War II British India, Shafeek plays "Chaiwallah Muhammad." The series aired on the BBC from 1974–1981 and starred Windsor Davies as the loud-mouthed staff sergeant-major of the Royal Artillery barracks in Deolali, Bombay Presidency and Michael Bates as the “Bearer to the British Concert Party” Rangi Ram.

Muhammed the chai wallah walks around the camp all day, selling tea from his urn with his catchphrase "chai garam chai (Eng. 'tea, hot tea')." We can also hear him sing the musical interruptions between the scenes, which are mostly popular World War II era hits, accompanied by a sitar. At the end of the credits he starts to sing "Land of Hope and Glory" only to be interrupted by the Sergeant-major shouting his ubiquitous "SHUTUPPP!!!."^[1] He was promoted to bearer when bearer Rangi Ram left the series (Michael Bates died after Series 5). Comedy is provided by the caustic though affectionate relationship between Muhammad and his superior Rangi Ram, with Rangi frequently dispensing mild insults to him.

Mind Your Language

During the run of It Ain't Half Hot Mum he played the part of Pakistani student Ali Nadim in the popular if politically somewhat incorrect ITV/London Weekend Television sitcom Mind Your Language (1977–79). Shafeek played as Ali Nadim on the show along with Barry Evans and a motley group of foreigners in a London night-school “English as a foreign language class”. Nadim was a Pakistani living in the United Kingdom. In the show, Ali Nadim was frequently seen quarreling with Ranjeet Singh (Albert Moses), a Sikh from India. Ali called Ranjeet names like “poppadum” and frequently tells him that he will “kick [him] up the Khyber” ("Khyber Pass" being truncated rhyming slang for "arse") and calls him a “damn fool.” In the early episodes this relationship is depicted as quite caustic with the characters frequently having verbal and occasionally physical arguments, but the relationship warms as the series progresses and becomes positively friendly towards in the later episodes.

Ali is a character who speaks more than he is required to on some occasions, for example in the episode “The Best Things In Life,” he unwittingly tells the sergeant that Mr Brown was trying to bribe him. He is usually the last to arrive in class and jovially enters the room with the cry “Hello everybodys” and appears to be unaware that Mr Brown finds this habit annoying. Ali Nadim also pronounces "Excuse me please" as “Squeeze me please.”

Other roles

Due to the worldwide syndication of the aforementioned sitcoms, Shafeek became a well-known character actor and comedian to both British and international audiences. He played character parts in films and TV such as Carry On Emmannuelle, Minder and The Onedin Line.

His last role was in High Road to China starring Tom Selleck.

Filmography

Television

Film

Theatre

Discography

Albums

Death

Dino Shafeek suddenly died from a heart attack on 10 March 1984.

See also

• British Bangladeshi
• List of British Bangladeshis

References

External links

• Dino Shafeek at the Internet Movie Database