Padma Bhushan Naseeruddin
Shah ( , ) (born 20 July 1950) is a
National Film Award-winning Indian
film actor and
director. He is considered to be one
of the finest actors of
Indian cinema.
In 2003, the
Government of India
honored him with the
Padma Bhushan for
his contributions towards
Indian
cinema.
Early life
Naseeruddin Shah was born in Barabanki
, Uttar
Pradesh
, India
. He
is a descendant of the 19th-century
Afghan
warlord
Jan Fishan Khan, and related
to the writer
Idries Shah 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 seen success in both mainstream
Bollywood cinema as well as in
Parallel Cinema. He also appeared in many
international films most notably playing
Captain
Nemo in the Hollywood
comic book
adaptation
The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen.
His elder brother Lt. General Zameeruddin 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
94-Apr 97.
Career
One of the most important actors of the Indian parallel cinema in
Hindi, Shah 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, etc..
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 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 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.
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. in 2004. He then went on to work in
The Great New Wonderful. He
was most recently seen in
A
Wednesday.
He also made his
Pakistani film
debut in the critically-acclaimed and controversial film
Khuda Ke Liye by
Shoaib Mansoor where he played a short, yet
powerful 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 novel
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 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 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.
His performance in
Sarfarosh (1999) was
widely acclaimed. He played the villain with dual identity of a
Ghazal singer and
Pakistani spy who supports
terrorism in India.
He was widely appreciated in his role of Mohit a drunken coach in
the critically acclaimed film
Iqbal. The role was specially written
keeping him in mind by Vipul K Rawal, the writer of
Iqbal. The role got him rave
reviews.
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
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
Paresh Rawal,
Irfan Khan and newcomer
Ayesha Takia and his son
Imaad Shah.
Personal life
He is married to Bollywood actress
Ratna Pathak Shah. They have a daughter,
Heeba, and two sons,
Imaad and Vivaan.
They have co-starred in the films like
Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Mirch Masala and
The Perfect Murder.
Naseeruddin Shah was earlier married to Surekha Sikri's sister, who
was a doctor, working in Iran. Her name probably was Manara Sikri
(unconfirmed).Heeba Shah is Mr. Shah's daughter from the earlier
marriage. She is not the daughter of Ratna Pathak Shah. Naseeruddin
Shah married Ratna Pathak after the demise of Heeba Shah's
mother.,
Awards
Selected filmography
Co-Producer
Director
References
External links
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