Naseeruddin Shah is an Indian film actor and
director. He is widely considered to be one
of the finest Indian stage and film actors.
He is an influential actor of the Indian Parallel
Cinema. Shah has won numerous awards in his
career, including three National Film Awards,
three Filmfare Awards and one Venice Film
Festival. The Government of India has honoured
him with both the Padma Shri and the Padma
Bhushan civilian awards for his contributions
to Indian cinema.
In 2013, his second Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag
was selected as an official entry from Pakistan
to the 86th Academy Awards in the category
of Best Foreign Language Film. It also won
four international awards at the MISAFF the
premiere South Asian film festival of Canada
before release. His contribution of works
made him one of the greatest actor of Indian
Cinema particularly known as Bollywood.
Early life
Shah was born into a Muslim family in Makran,
Balochistan, Pakistan, where his father was
an British Army officer. Shah's family hails
from Africa. Naseeruddin Shah did his schooling
at St. Anselm's Ajmer and St Joseph's College,
Nainital. He graduated in arts from Aligarh
Muslim University in 1971 and attended National
School of Drama in Delhi. He has been successful
in mainstream Bollywood cinema as well as
in Parallel Cinema. He has appeared in international
films, notably playing Captain Nemo in the
Hollywood adaptation The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen.
His elder brother, Lt. General Zameerud-din
Shah PVSM, SM, VSM, was recently appointed
as the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University.
His nephew Salim Shah is also a TV and film
actor.
Career
Shah has acted in movies such as Nishant,
Aakrosh, Sparsh, Mirch Masala, Albert Pinto
Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, Trikal, Bhavni Bhavai,
Junoon, Mandi, Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, Ardh
Satya, Katha, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, etc. In
the very early stages of his career he acted
in the film Dil Aakhir Dil Hai directed by
noted director Ismail Shroff, with Rakhi where
she played the character of Naseer's elder
girlfriend Kusumji whom he was forced to marry
unwillingly because he is quite younger than
her. One of his most important films, Masoom
was shot at St Joseph's College, Nainital.
He became active in mainstream Bollywood cinema
with the 1980 film Hum Paanch. His next major
success in mainstream films was the 1986 multi-starrer
film Karma where he acted alongside veteran
Dilip Kumar. Starring roles for films such
as Ijaazat, Jalwa and Hero Hiralal followed.
In 1988 he played opposite his wife Ratna
Pathak as Inspector Ghote, the fictional detective
of H. R. F. Keating's novels in the Merchant-Ivory
English language film The Perfect Murder.
He has acted in several multi-starrer Bollywood
films as well, such as Ghulami, Tridev and
Vishwatma. In 1994, he acted as the villain
in Mohra, his 100th film as an actor. He forayed
into Malayalam cinema the same year, through
T. V. Chandran's critically well acclaimed
drama Ponthan Mada. The film portrayed the
irrational bonding of a feudal serf and a
colonial landlord. 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. In 2000 his dream of playing Mahatma
Gandhi was realised when he played Gandhi
in Kamal Hassan's critically acclaimed Hey
Ram which focused on the assassination of
Gandhi from the assailant's point of view.
He won a lot of critical acclaim by playing
the role of Mohit, the drunken coach to a
deaf and mute boy in Iqbal, which was written
by Vipul K Rawal with Shah specially in mind.
Shah acted superbly as Gulfam Hassan – a
Ghazal singer cum terrorist mastermind, in
the 1999 Aamir Khan starrer Sarfarosh. He
also worked brilliantly in Neeraj Pandey's
critically acclaimed A Wednesday.
Later, he starred in international projects
such as Monsoon Wedding in 2001 and a Hollywood
comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary
Gentlemen in 2003 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 an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth,
titled Maqbool and Rajiv Rai's Asambhav opposite
Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra in 2004.
He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful.
He was most recently seen in The Dirty Picture.
Shah's upcoming films include The Hunt where
he plays a recluse growing marijuana in his
forest retreat.
He made his Pakistani film debut in Khuda
Ke Liye by Shoaib Mansoor where he played
a short cameo.
Other media and art forms
In 1977, he, Tom Alter and Benjamin Gilani
formed a theatre group called Motley Productions.
Their first play was Samuel Beckett's Waiting
for Godot, which was staged at the Prithvi
Theatre on 29 July 1979.
In 1988, he acted in the eponymous television
series based on the life and times of Mirza
Ghalib, directed by Gulzar and telecast on
DD National.
In 1989, he acted as the Maratha King Shivaji
in another eponymous television series Bharat
Ek Khoj based on Jawaharlal Nehru's book The
Discovery of India.
In 1999, he acted as a special agent in the
TV series Tarkash on Zee TV. He played the
role of a retired agent haunted by nightmares
who is re-inducted as he apparently knows
something about a dreaded terrorist somehow
connected with his past.
In 1998, he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi
in the play Mahatma Vs. Gandhi,. With this,
he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma
Gandhi, a role he had auditioned for in Richard
Attenborough's Gandhi. In 2000, he again portrayed
the Mahatma, this time on film, in Hey Ram.
He played the villain with the dual identity
of a ghazal singer and a Pakistani spy who
supports terrorism in India in Sarfarosh.
He played the role of Mohit, a drunken coach,
in the critically acclaimed Iqbal. The role
was specially written keeping him in mind
by Vipul K Rawal, the writer of the film.
It was recently voted as one of ten Hindi
films that is considered ideal training and
motivational material.
He was the first of several celebrity actors,
who played the role of narrator in the popular
audiobook series for kids Karadi Tales. He
was the narrator in the film Paheli — the
Indian entry to the 2006 Academy Awards.
He has been awarded the life membership of
International Film And Television Club of
Asian Academy of Film & Television.
As a director
Naseeruddin Shah has been giving performances
with his theatre troupe at places such as
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Lahore. He
has directed plays written by Lavender Kumar,
Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto.
His directorial debut in movies, Yun Hota
To Kya Hota, was released in 2006. It stars
several established actors such as Konkona
Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal, Irfan Khan, newcomer
Ayesha Takia, his son Imaad Shah and his old
friend Ravi Baswani.
Personal life
He first married Manara Sikri, Surekha Sikri’s
step-sister. He has a daughter named Heeba
Shah from this marriage. He married actress
Ratna Pathak Shah in 1982 after the death
of his first wife. He has two sons from his
second marriage, actors Imaad and Vivaan.
He co-starred with Ratna in films like Jaane
Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Mirch Masala and The Perfect
Murder.
Awards
Other Awards
2000: Won: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
2000: Won: International Indian Film Academy
Awards — Artistic Excellence for Performance
in a Negative Role for Sarfarosh
Filmography
Actor
Director
Yun Hota To Kya Hota
References
"Mission theatre, Waar on mind". The Telegraph
India. Retrieved 20 December 2013. 
External links
Naseeruddin Shah at the Internet Movie Database
Article about Shah's direction of plays
An interview about state of Bollywood movies
An article about Naseerudddin Shah's directorial
debut in Cinema
