His great grandfather, Shyan Nandan Sahay, was an Indian landlord, educationist, legislator and the founder vice chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University Muzaffarpur.

Born in the Indian state of Bihar, Shyan also served as the vice chancellor of Patna University.

He was a member of the 1st Lok Sabha, elected from Muzaffarpur Central constituency on Indian National Congress candidature.

The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 1957, for his contributions to education.

[2] He later turned filmmaker and started filming Squad, his directorial debut, in September 2019 at Belarusfilm studios in Minsk.