Naseeruddin Shah

Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah
Born	20 July 1950 (1950-07-20) Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–present
Spouse	Manara Sikri (deceased) Ratna Pathak Shah (1982-present)
Children	Heeba Shah Imaad Shah Vivaan Shah

Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is widely considered to be one of the best actors produced by India. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.

Early life

Shah was born on 20 July 1950 in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is a descendant of the 19th-century Afghan warlord Jan Fishan Khan, and related to the Afghan writer Idries Shah, the Pakistani actor, Syed Kamal Shah , Director General of IB, Pakistan, Shah Mahboob Alam and the cricketer Owais Shah. 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 also appeared in international films, notably playing Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He has also worked in the Lollywood Film Khuda Kay Liye.

His elder brother Lt. General Zameerud-din Shah PVSM, SM, VSM, also an alumnus of St. Joseph's Nainital, retired from the Indian Army in early 2008 as Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning and Systems) and formerly commanded Dimapur based 3 Corps. He also served as Director Indian Defence Attache to Saudi Arabia from Feb 1994 -April 1997.. Post-retirement, General Shah is serving as Administrative Member at Principal Bench of Armed Forces Tribunal at New Delhi.

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 a film Dil Aakhir Dil Hai directed by noted director Ismail Shroff, with Rakhi where she played the character of Naseer's elder girl friend kusumji whom he was forced to marry unwillingly because he is quite younger to her(in the film). One of his most important films Masoom (1983) 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 (1987), Jalwa (1988) and Hero Hiralal (1988) 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 (1985), Tridev (1989) and Vishwatma (1992). 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. In 2000 his dream of playing Mahatma Gandhi was realized 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 acting as Mohit, the drunken coach to a deaf and mute boy in Iqbal which was written by Vipul K Rawal keeping specially him in mind. He also worked in the critically acclaimed A Wednesday (2008).

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 (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 an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Maqbool and Rajiv Rai's Asambhav in 2004. He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful. He was most recently seen in Ishqiya. 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 along with 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 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 had also acted as the Maratha King Shivaji in another eponymous television series Bharat Ek Khoj based on Jawaharlal Nehru's book The Discovery of India directed by noted film director Shyam Benegal. The role of Aurangzeb was performed by Om Puri. The story of Shivaji was spread over two episodes.

In 1999, he acted as a special agent in a TV Series Tarkash, coming in 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, (which looked at the Mahatma's relation with Harilal Gandhi, his first son). With this, he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma Gandhi, a role he had auditioned for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. Incidentally, in 2000, he again portrayed the Mahatma, this time on film, in Hey Ram.

He played the villain with dual identity of a Ghazal singer and Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India in Sarfarosh (1999).

He played the role of Mohit, a drunken coach, in the critically acclaimed film Iqbal (film). The role was specially written keeping him in mind by Vipul K Rawal, the writer of Iqbal (film). The film 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 also 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 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 movie, Yun Hota To Kya Hota, was released in 2006. The movie 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 got married to Manara Sikri, Surekha Sikri’s sister. He has a daughter named Heeba Shah from his first marriage. He married Bollywood actress Ratna Pathak Shah in 1982 after the demise of his first wife. He has two sons from his second marriage Imaad and Vivaan. He has co-starred with Ratna in films like Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Mirch Masala and The Perfect Murder.

Awards

Award	Film	Year	Status
Civilian Awards
Padma Shri	India's fourth highest civilian award	1987	Won
Padma Bhushan	India's Third highest civilian award	2003	Won
National Film Award
National Film Award for Best Actor	Sparsh	1979	Won
National Film Award for Best Actor	Paar	1984	Won
National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor	Iqbal	2006	Won
Filmfare Award
Filmfare Best Actor Award	Aakrosh	1981	Won
Filmfare Best Actor Award	Chakra	1982	Won
Filmfare Best Actor Award	Masoom	1984	Won
Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award	Sir	1993	Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award	Mohra	1995	Nominated
Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award	Naajayaz	1996	Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award	Chaahat	1998	Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award	Sarfarosh	2000	Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award	Krrish	2007	Nominated
Filmfare Best Actor Award	A Wednesday	2008	Nominated
Venice Film Festival
The Volpi Cup (Award for Best Actor)	Paar	1984	Won

Other Awards

• 2000: Won: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• 2000: Won: IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) Award — Artistic Excellence for Performance in a Negative Role for Sarfarosh

filmography

Actor

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1975	Nishant	Vishwam
1976	Manthan	Bhola
1977	Bhumika	Sunil Verma
1977	Tabbaliyu Neenaade Magane	Shastri
1978	Junoon	Sarfaraz Khan
1979	Sparsh	Aniruddh Parmar
1980	Aakrosh	Bhaskar Kulkarni
1980	Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai	Albert Pinto
1980	Bhavni Bhavai
1980	Hum Paanch	Nasiruddin Shah
1981	Chakra	Lukka
1981	Umrao Jaan	Gohar Mirza
1982	Bazaar	Salim
1983	Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron	Vinod Chopra
1983	Katha	Rajaram Purshotam Joshi
1983	Masoom	DK
1983	Woh Saat Din	Dr. Anand
1984	Paar	Naurangia
1984	Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho	Lawyer Malkani
1984	Holi	Professor Singh
1985	Ghulami	SP Sultan Singh
1985	Trikaal	Ruiz Pereira
1985	Mirch Masala	subedar
1986	Karma	Khairuddin Chishti
1987	Jalwa	Kapil
1987	Tamas
1987	Ijaazat	Mahender
1988	Hero Hiralal	Hero Hiralal
1988	Maalamaal	Raj
1988	Pestonjee	Phirojshah
1988	The Perfect Murder	Inspector Ghote
1989	Tridev	Jay Singh
1989	Mane (The House)	Rajshekar
1991	Ek Ghar
1992	Vishwatma	Suryapratap Singh
1992	Electric Moon	Rambuhj Goswami
1992	Chamatkar	Amar Kumar
1992	Panaah
1993	Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa	Father Breganza
1993	Sir	Professor Amar Verma
1994	Ponthan Mada	Sheema Thampuran	(Malayalam film)
1994	Mohra	Mr. Zindal
1994	Drohkaal	DCP Abbas Lodhi
1995	Naajayaz
1996	Chaahat	Raj Solanki
1997	Bombay Boys	Mastana
1998	Chinagate	Major Sarfaraz Khan
1998	Such a Long Journey	Jimmy Bilimoria
1999	Sarfarosh	Gulfaam Hasan
1999	Bhopal Express	Bashir
2000	Hey Ram	Mahatma Gandhi
2001	Monsoon Wedding	Lalit Verma
2002	The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen	Captain Nemo	Releasing in (2003)(US film)
2003	Encounter: The Killing	Inspector Bharucha	Released in 2003
2003	Maqbool	Inspector Purohit
2004	3 Deewarein	Ishaan
2004	Main Hoon Na	Brig. Shekhar Sharma
2005	Paheli	Him Slef	Voice of narrator
2005	Iqbal	Mohit	cricket coach
2006	Being Cyrus	Dinshaw Sethna
2006	Krrish	Dr. Siddhant Arya
2006	Omkara	Bhaisaab
2006	Banaras	Babaji
2007	Parzania	Cyrus
2007	Amal	G.K. Jayaram
2007	Khuda Ke Liye	Maulana Wali	(A Pakistani film)
2007	Dus Kahaniyaan	,,
2008	Mithya	.
2008	Shoot on Sight	Tariq Ali
2008	Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na	Amar Singh Rathore	Jai's father
2008	A Wednesday	.	Anonymous antagonist
2008	Maharathi	Jaisingh Adenwalla
2009	Barah Aana	Shukla
2009	Firaaq	Khan Sahab
2009	Today's Special	Akbar
2009	Bolo Raam	N.S. Negi
2010	Peepli_Live	Salim Kidwai	Agricultural Minister
2010	Ishqiya	Iftikhar	Khalu Jaan/Khalu/Iftikhar
2010	Raajneeti	Bhaskar Sanyal	People Leader
2010	Allah Ke Banday	Warden
2011	7 Khoon Maaf	Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar
2011	That Girl in Yellow Boots	.
2011	The Hunt - Feature Film - India	Colonel	Post-Production
2011	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara	Salman Habib
2011	The Dirty Picture	Suryakanth
2011	Deool	..	Marathi Film
2011	chaalis chaurasi	..	Hindi Film
2012	Maximum	Announced	Under production
2012	Mad Dad	Announced	Announced

Director

• Yun Hota To Kya Hota (2006)

External links

• A conversation with Naseeruddin Shah
• Naseeruddin Shah at the Internet Movie Database
• Full Filmography
• A review of the play Mahatma Vs. Gandhi
• Article mentioning that Naseeruddin Shah lost out on the title role for the film Gandhi
• Article about Shah's direction of plays
• Narrator of Karadi tales
• An interview about state of Bollywood movies
• An article about Naseerudddin Shah's directorial debut in Cinema
• Award at the International Film Festival of Mumbai
• Naseeruddin Shah is a master at work
• Naseeruddin Shah to play Professor Shanku?