Our films must project reality, truth: Naseeruddin Shah

* The Shah of parallel cinema and one of the finest and most acclaimed actors reveals the story of his life, makes candid observations about movies and theatre
By Kartik Lokhande
And Then One Day -- to be precise, Thursday evening -- Naseeruddin Shah descended on the cultural scene of Nagpur, after a long gap. Nagpurians welcomed this Shah of parallel cinema and one of the finest and most acclaimed actors, with a standing ovation. And, while a part of the city was getting drenched in a candid conversation inside Deshpande Hall, the Rain God kept drenching the other part of the city outside.
Watching and listening to actor-director-producer Naseeruddin Shah live on stage at Dr Vasantrao Deshpande Hall was a revealing and rewarding experience, in a way that this actor does not mince words. His expressive eyes sizing up the person in front, without batting an eyelid, gave a clear indication of being serious in business. In a relaxed mood, Naseeruddin Shah faced a comfortably let loose barrage of questions by compere Ajey Gampawar, who had conceptualised the interview titled ‘In Conversation with Naseeruddin Shah’, under the aegis of Saptak Nagpur and Chhaya Dixit Welfare Foundation. 

A jam-packed hall lapped up each and every piece of conversation that emitted from the tete-a-tete. Gampawar set the ball rolling with Naseeruddin’s epoch-making role of ‘Mirza Ghalib’, in which he blended beautifully with the character of the bard, with Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh’s voice being his ‘ghost voice’ in rendition of some of the immortal classic Ghazals. “I have been very fortunate in getting the role and associating with people like Gulzar and Jagjit Singh to synch my lips with,” reiterated the ‘Padma Bhushan’ awardee.
On today’s actors and roles, Naseeruddin said, “They are doing what new players are doing in IPL, making full use of opportunities coming their way. As a result many unemployed actors are getting work.” Naseeruddin Shah spoke at length about his roles.”I studied my characters as much as I could. My roles of Gandhiji, Bernard Shaw, and Albert Einstein were successful due to my homework ornated with my imagination,” he exclaimed.
On the Oscar winning film ‘Gandhi’, Shah stunned many when he said that it was made with the purpose of winning Oscars and was a Hollywood formula film that reinforced myths about Gandhi. There was no scope for any Hindusthani actor to get a role in it. The play ‘Mahatma Vs Gandhi’ was a real challenge as it had substance, and potential to reveal Gandhi as a person, said the actor who has won three National Awards, three Filmfare Awards, and an award at Venice Film Festival.
Speaking about his recently released autobiography ‘And Then One Day’, Naseeruddin Shah said that biographies were ‘100 per cent sugar-coated’ and contained lies. “However, with the acclaim I am getting for my autobiography, I can say that my lies have not been detected,” he quipped, leaving the audience bursting into laughter. Asked about sequel to his autobiography, which is a vivid and honest account of 32 years of his life, the Shah of parallel cinema replied, “I may not write second-half of my life story in first persons. A fictional character shall give perspective on film industry, about which I have lot many things to tell.”
During the conversation, Shah traced not only his evolution as an actor but also as an intellectual. He narrated how he learnt the finer nuances of lip-synchronisation during shooting for tele-serial ‘Mirza Ghalib’ as background music was not used during recital of Shayari. “I studied voice, pause, and breath of Jagjit Singh to lip-synchronise whatever he sung beautifully,” he added.
He unveiled the story of his evolution as an actor while getting trained at National School of Drama, Film and Television Institution of India, learning from British actor Geoffrey Kendal, learning under Ebrahim Alkazi, Roshan Taneja, and Satyadev Dubey. He admitted that he was more influenced by Dubey’s style of theatre. He also narrated how one Dr Rajkumar came to him after the show of his production ‘Julius Caesar’ and offered training in ‘Diaphragm Breathing’. The man, Shah said, trained him in the technique and taught how to use own voice effectively. “He is an angel for me,” remarked Shah.
Explaining the process of learning, the accomplished actor said, “Dissatisfaction took roots in me and I kept on learning. I kept myself out of the trap of thinking that I have learnt or accomplished something. That helped me evolve.” He recollected how Taneja made him understand the difference between ‘entry’ and ‘entering’. “I wish to quote here a famous statement -- Every exit is entry to somewhere else, and every entry is exit from somewhere else. Understanding this teaches you one finer nuance of acting,” he added.
The actor who has played Mahatma Gandhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Shaw and likes said that all these characters were challenging and it was difficult to understand these personalities. Instead of being a replica of a personality, he observed, it is important to understand what does the writer want to communicate to the audience through his portrayal of the personality.
On the latest trend of actors getting caught in a particular image, Shah was straight-forward in his reply, “An actor’s image is in actor’s own mind, not in audiences’ mind. Cinema does not show real personality of an actor. Hence, actors should keep in mind that audience loves his/her representation of a character and not him/her as a person. As far as audience is concerned, there is only good performance or bad performance, and not good audience or bad audience.”
Regarding English literature and theatre, Naseeruddin Shah minced no words in saying that it was a ‘British conspiracy’ to imbibe upon Indian minds that English literature alone was the best. “Only Shakespeare is being taught mandatorily in India even today, instead of Rabindranath Tagore, Kalidasa, Munshi Premchand, Mirza Ghalib and likes,” he lamented.
Replying to a question about his association with his father, there was a very fine swerve of emotion in well-toned voice of Shah.
Asked about his own movie ‘Party’, Shah surprised and shocked all when he said, “Except for writing, the movie is shallow as its presentation is fake.” Shah dubbed the cult movie ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron’ starring himself and Ravi Waswani as ‘a product of honest frustration’. It is not a masterpiece, but still an important film, he added.
On the present-day cinema, Naseeruddin Shah was straight-forward in saying that tonsuring, crying, six-pack abs, body building, growing a beard, imitating lameness etc were being considered as ‘acting skills’. To a suggestion, he said that Aamir Khan should not attempt to re-make his (Shah’s) acclaimed movie ‘Paar’.
Shah, who runs a theatre group ‘Motley’, said that he did theatre out of ‘itch’ to do that was beyond the lust for money and fame. “I do what is meaningful,” he said. And, when he was asked as to why did he do purely commercial movies, pat came the reply, “I exploit commercial films to have a good bank balance.” And, it evoked an approving laughter from the audience.
The fine conversation, which had made over two hours seem like just a couple of minutes, concluded with equally fine performance of Naseeruddin Shah who rendered the famous poem ‘Subah-e-Azaadi’ of Faiz Ahmed Faiz on partition.
By this time, rains also had disappeared in the dark of the night.

Shah to be back in
city with play soon
Recollecting his association with Nagpur, Naseeruddin Shah said that he had last performed in play ‘Waiting for Godot’ at Deshpande Hall. “Time has come when I must return to Nagpur stage,” he said, evoking welcome cheers from the audience. The compere Gampawar informed the audience that Shah would soon come to Nagpur for show of the play ‘Ismat Aapa Ke Naam’.

Candid Quotes n Inspiration does not come to unprepared. Success is 99 per cent perspiration ((hard work) and 1 per cent inspiration.
n Camera catches fakeness. Hence, an actor has to get into the skin of the character he/she is portraying.
n Parallel cinema has not come to an end. Ratio-wise, these movies and even their audiences, and also the ‘trash’ being produced are the same.
n I treat ‘Sholay’ as a bad film. No scene in this movie is original.
n Broadway Musicals are rubbish. It is all a magic plus music concert plus cabaret plus movie on stage. There is no difference between Hindi movies and Broadway Musicals. It does not stimulate me. For, I think that magic of theatre is bringing an actor and audience to the same wave-length.
n There is no difference between Hollywood and Bollywood movies, except that Hollywood movies have more money and better taste.
n The balloon of ‘Rs 100 crore, Rs 200 crore, et cetera’ club of movies is going to burst someday. The new-age film-makers need to think that there is something beyond mere entertainment -- something relating to reality of life and maturing into abstractions.
n Nowadays, movies are being shown to ‘Jaahil’ (uncivilised, vandal) persons even after clearance by Censor Board.
n On his latest movie ‘Dharam Sankat Mein’ shown to Hindu and Muslim priests, Shah said, “We should map the IQ of Censor Board members. How many movies have these Hindu or Muslim priests have made, we should think about it.” Still, he said, if Censor Board is not there, many more distasteful things will start creeping in. 

(April 9, 2015. Published in 'The Hitavada' CityLine on April 10, 2015)