Naseeruddin Shah

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Naseeruddin Shah Biography

Naseeruddin Shah (birth . 20 July 1950) is arguably one of the finest actors in the world today. He has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood movies as well as in art films.

Shah showed interest in an acting career from his childhood. He graduated from the National School of Drama in 1973 and enrolled in the Film and Television Institute of India the same year. Naseeruddin Shah was first noticed by Shyam Benegal. He acted in Benegal's Nishant (1975), Manthan and Bhumika (1976).

One of his most intense performances was given in Saeed Mirza's Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai ("What makes Albert Pinto angry?", 1980). In the movie, he plays a garage mechanic from Goa who dreams of the expensive cars that he repairs but that are far beyond his reach. The film is set in a Catholic setting, primarily because Mirza did not have the courage to tackle Muslim issues. Naseeruddin Shah has also acted for other New Indian Cinema directors including Mrinal Sen (Khandan, 1983) and Sai Paranjpye (Sparsh, 1979). Besides these "serious" roles, he has a penchant for comedy.

Naseeruddin Shah established himself as a good actor and won the Indian government's National Award for Best Actor in 1979 for an effective portrayal of a blind man in the film Sparsh (literally "Touch"). This was also the time when several young directors were making movies that were different from those produced till then. This movement was termed the New wave, with actors such as Shah, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Om Puri getting better opportunities. He also won three Filmfare awards during this period. His performance in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, a comedy, displayed his versatility but at the same time, also made it difficult to categorise him. In the interim, he was considered for the title role in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, but finally the role went to Ben Kingsley. Shah was very disappointed that he could not bag the role.

In mainstream cinema

He became active in the mainstream movies, popularly known as Bollywood with the 1986 film Karma, in which he was one of the heroes. Films starring him as sole hero such as Jalwa and Hero Hiralal followed. He acted in several supporting roles as well. In 1994, he acted as the villain in Mohra, his 100th film as an actor. He strongly believed that the distinction between art and commercial films had largely reduced, especially with the directors of the former also making commercial films. Later, he starred in international projects such as Monsoon Wedding and a movie adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (co-starring Sean Connery) where he played the role of Captain Nemo. His portrayal of Nemo was very close to the design of the graphic novel, although his Nemo was far less manic. He worked in a Bollywood adaption of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Maqbool. He can most recently be seen in The Great New Wonderful, where he is easily one of the film's most endearing characters.

Other media and art forms

In 1988, he acted in the eponymous television series based on the life and times of Mirza Ghalib, directed by Gulzar and telecast on the Doordarshan.

In 1998, he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the play Mahatma Vs. Gandhi, (which looked at the Mahatma's relation with Harilal Gandhi, his first son). With this, he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma Gandhi. Incidentally, in 2000, he again portrayed the Mahatma, this time on film, in Hey Ram.

He took the role of narrator in Karadi tales, an audio recording of stories for kids. He was also the narrator in the film Paheli - the Indian entry to the 2006 Oscars.

As director

Naseeruddin Shah has been giving performances with his theatre troupe at places such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. He has directed plays written by Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto. He did not act in the plays directed by him.

In his directorial debut(title: Yun Hota to Kya Hota), Shah shows he's without peer in drawing performances out of actors, a skill that comes directly from his stage experience. He is not appearing in this movie (working title: Yun Hota to Kya Hota), except as narrator. The movie stars several established actors such as Paresh Rawal and newcomer Ayesha Takia. Shah weaves together four stories about people planning to migrate to the U.S. from India, exploring themes such as love, betrayal, integrity, hypocrisy and morality. Migration and displacement are an integral part of the Indian psyche, what with the subcontinent's history of invasion and partition and the fact that among the things a poor country can export are able bodies and willing minds.

Trivia

His wife Ratna Pathak Shah and daughter Heeba Manara Shah have also graduated from the National School of Drama (1981 and 1999 batches respectively).

Naseeruddin Shah Filmography

Omkara (Cast: Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Kareena Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Bipasha Basu, Naseeruddin Shah )
Sitam (1982; Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Vikram, G. Asrani, Arun Sarnaik, Keith Stevenson, Vikas Desai )