Writer-actor Shiv Subrahmanyam, who authored the edgy yet evocative screenplays of ‘Parinda’, ‘Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi’ and ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’ and who could stamp his presence as an actor irrespective of a role’s length, passed away on Sunday night in Mumbai. He was 62.

Movie fans would remember Shiv as the corrupt cop in ‘Kaminey’ and the hard-to-please father in ‘2 States’. He also marked his presence on the theatre circuit as an actor and playwright. ‘Clogged Arteries’ and ‘Irani Café’ were notable works. His more remembered performances on stage came in ‘The Dumb Waiter’ and ‘Extremities’.

Director Hansal Mehta tweeted, “Incredibly talented, he was much loved and revered personally as well as professionally. ”

In an Instagram post, producer-director Anurag Kashyap revealed how Shiv helped him get his first screenwriting credit back in 1994. “The most generous, beautiful man I have known,” he wrote.

Director Sudhir Mishra recalled being introduced to Shiv by Naseeruddin Shah on the sets of Saeed Mirza’s ‘Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!’ in 1983. In the years that followed they would often hang out together, crack jokes and spar over playwrights. “We shared the same sense of humour. I could start a joke and he could finish it,” Mishra said.

Those unplanned moments of creativity marked by absence of deadline led to the scripts of ‘Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi’ (1996), ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’ (2003) and ‘Chameli’ (2003). The starting point of Hazaaron, for which Shiv shared credit with Mishra and Ruchi Narain, were two characters in Frantz Fanon’s anti-colonial classic, The Wretched Of The Earth. “Shiv had such sharp insights…The script was written over a year and half. The project took over 3 years. And there was no money to be made. But we did it,” said Mishra.

Shiv’s early work happened with Vidhu Vinod Chopra. In an interview, Shiv said he was a student of English literature and just out of college when he assisted Vidhu Vinod on ‘Khamosh’ (1985). ‘Parinda’, a gritty gangster drama, was born out of a single visual image that Vinod had narrated to him: two orphaned boys on Bombay’s streets--the younger one scared and the elder one telling him not to worry. “It took us 2-3 years to write it,” Shiv said. He received the Filmfare award for best screenplay.

Shiv acted in at least 30 films and TV serials. Tragically, his teenage son, Jahaan succumbed to brain tumour in February. Theatre director Bhupendra Deshmukh, said the actor was suffering from multiple ailments since two years. “He was also busy attending to his son's illness, which made him set aside his own treatment."

Shiv’s funeral at the Amboli crematorium was attended by film personalities including actors Naseeruddin Shah, Nana Patekar and Makarand Deshpande. He is survived by his actor wife Divya Jagdale.