Naseeruddin Shah

Early life and education

Naseeruddin Shah was born on 20 July 1950 in Barabanki town, Uttar Pradesh, into a Nawab family. His great-great-grandfather was the Afghan warlord Jan-Fishan Khan, who would go on to become the Nawab of Sardhana. His relatives include author-diplomat Ikbal Ali Shah, poet Amina Shah, Omar Ali-Shah and Idries Shah, the latter of whom both Sufi writers. His relatives from Pakistan include actor-director Syed Kamal, Shah Mahboob Alam, former joint director and head of Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau in Sindh and Balochistan, and cricketer Owais Shah.{{cite web

Shah attended St. Anselm's Ajmer school and St Joseph's College, Nainital. He graduated in arts from Aligarh Muslim University in 1971 and attended National School of Drama in Delhi.

His elder brother, Lt. General Zameerud-din Shah (Retd.) PVSM, SM, VSM, had a distinguished career in the military, having served as Deputy Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army, and later was appointed a member of the Armed Forces Tribunal and also Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University.

Career

Parallel & mainstream cinema

Shah started his film career in the mid 1970s in parallel cinema and has acted in films 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 and Katha.

Shah became active in mainstream Bollywood cinema with the 1980 film Hum Paanch. In 1982, he acted in the film Dil Aakhir Dil Hai directed by Ismail Shroff, opposite Rakhee. One of his most important films, Masoom, was released in 1983 and was shot at St Joseph's College, Nainital. That same year, he appeared in the cult comedy film Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. His next major success in mainstream films was the 1986 multi-star film Karma where he acted alongside veteran Dilip Kumar. Starring roles for films such as Ijaazat (1987), Jalwa (1988) and Hero Hiralal (1989) 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 with Aditya Pancholi in films like Maalamaal (1988) and Game (1993).

He has acted in several multi-starrer 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 forayed into Malayalam cinema the same year, through T. V. Chandran's drama Ponthan Mada. The film portrayed the irrational bonding of a feudal serf (played by Mammootty) and a colonial landlord (played by Shah). 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, Shah played Mahatma Gandhi in Kamal Haasan's Hey Ram which focused on the assassination of Gandhi from the assailant's point of view.

Shah played Mohit, the drunken coach to a deaf and mute boy in Iqbal. Shah was noted for his roles in the 1999 Aamir Khan-starrer Sarfarosh, where he played Gulfam Hassan – a ghazal singer-cum-terrorist mastermind — and in Neeraj Pandey's A Wednesday (2008).

Shah has also starred in international projects, such as Monsoon Wedding in 2001 and a Hollywood adaptation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 (co-starring Sean Connery), where he played 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 Vishal Bhardwaj's Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Maqbool, in 2003, and Rajiv Rai's Asambhav opposite Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra in 2004. He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful (2005). Shah played a pivotal role in Today's Special, Aasif Mandvi's 2009 independent comedy film. In 2011, Shah was seen in The Dirty Picture. He acted in Anup Kurian's The Blueberry Hunt, playing a recluse growing marijuana in his forest retreat, and in Waiting, starring opposite Kalki Koechlin, both of which were released in 2016.

Shah made his Pakistani film debut in Khuda Ke Liye by Shoaib Mansoor, where he played a short cameo. His second Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag was selected as the country's official entry to the 86th Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film award.

As a director

Shah has performed 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, Irrfan Khan, then-newcomer Ayesha Takia, his son Imaad Shah and his old friend Ravi Baswani.

Theatre and television

In 1977, Shah, 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 the mid-1990s, Shah also hosted some episodes of science magazine programme Turning Point.

In 1999, he acted as a special agent in the TV series Tarkash on Zee TV. He played a retired agent haunted by nightmares who is re-inducted as he apparently knows something about a dreaded terrorist somehow connected with his past. He played the villain with the dual identity of a ghazal singer and a Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India in Sarfarosh (1999). He was the first of several celebrity actors, who played narrator in the popular audiobook series for kids Karadi Tales. He along with wife Ratna was the narrator in the film Paheli — the Indian entry to the 2006 Academy Awards.

In 2017, Shah returned to film, starring in the Shakespearean adaptation The Hungry, screened under special presentations at the Toronto International Film Festival 2017. He also acted as lead in The Coffin Maker directed by Veena Bakshi, which however never got released in public but only remained for private viewership.

Personal life

When he was between 19 and 20 years of age, Shah married 36-year-old Manara Sikri, also known as Parveen Murad. They got married on 1 November in the year 1969 but the relationship ended soon when Naseer got through National School of Drama. Meanwhile, the two also had a daughter named 'Heeba'. Naseer believes that he wasn't in the right frame of mind back then and hence the relationship with Parveen came to an end. About His wife, who was the sister of actress Surekha Sikri, was a divorced woman and had children from her previous marriage. Shah faced resistance from his parents and siblings to the idea of this marriage, but he went ahead nevertheless. Within one year of the wedding, the couple became the parents of a daughter, the stage actress Heeba Shah. By this time, the marriage was on the rocks, and the couple separated when Heeba was about one year old. However, they were not divorced for many years, because in his nikaahnama (Muslim marriage contract), Shah had firstly promised a massive amount of money to his wife as mehr (alimony) in case of a divorce, and secondly disclaimed the right to bigamy. His wife, whose first marriage had ended bitterly, and whose first divorce had not (in her opinion) yielded her enough money, had been determined to ensure that the same situation was not repeated in her second marriage. It took more than twelve years for Naseeruddin Shah to put together the colossal amount of money which he had recklessly promised as a teenager, and it was not until 1982 that he was divorced of his first wife and free to marry his next. Meanwhile, Manara and Heeba moved to Iran in the early 1970s, shortly after the couple separated, and Shah was not permitted by his wife to have any contact with their daughter, despite the fact that no divorce had been formalized. The situation was only remedied when Heeba, having become an adult, herself sought out her father and established contact with him. She later moved to India and, having never married, lives with her father, step-mother and half-brothers. Manara died in Iran in the 1990s, after having gone through yet another divorce.

Shah was married to Manara Sikri and had a daughter, Heeba Shah, with her. In the 1970s, Shah met and fell in love with Ratna Pathak, the daughter of Dina Pathak, a well-respected character actress. During the 70s and 80s they co-starred in several films, including Mirch Masala and The Perfect Murder. They were in a live-in relationship for many years, while Shah put together the mehr required to divorce Manara. Shah and Pathak were finally married in 1982. By his second marriage, Shah has two sons, Imaad and Vivaan, both of whom are actors. The couple lives in Mumbai with Heeba, Imaad and Vivaan.

Filmography

Main article: Naseeruddin Shah filmography

Awards and nominations

Civilian awards

• 1987 – Padma Shri – India's fourth highest civilian award
• 2003 – Padma Bhushan – India's third highest civilian award

Film awards

Other awards

• 2000: Won: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

Autobiography

In an interview with HT Brunch, Shah speaks about having thought about an autobiography for almost 10 years. He penned down his thoughts occasionally during this period until he finally came up with 100-odd pages. What had started as an amusing pastime had clearly grown into something much deeper. He then presented the unfinished version to his friend, historian Ramchandra Guha, who encouraged Shah to complete it and send it to a publication house. Shah's memoir is titled And Then One Day, and was published by Hamish Hamilton.

Bibliography

References

References

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2. (20 July 2020). "Naseeruddin Shah: The Angel of Chaos".
3. (2015). "Padma Awards". Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.
4. (2025-04-12). "Ratna Pathak resents being second to husband Naseeruddin Shah's career, but has learned to accept it".
5. Italo Spinelli. (2002). "Indian Summer: Films, Filmmakers and Stars Between Ray and Bollywood". Edizioni Oliveras.
6. (2025-05-20). "Bollywood celebrities who have royal roots; Number 3 will SHOCK you". The Times of India.
7. (20 July 2020). "Bollywood wishes Naseeruddin Shah on 70th birthday: You continue to inspire us".
8. Society, LUCKNOW. (2013-07-02). "Padma Shri & Padma Bhushan Naseeruddin Shah : Salute to the legend from Avadh".
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15. (2 August 2019). "Shekhar Kapur says people wanted him to change Masoom script. Just another copy, retorts Internet".
16. "Naseeruddin Shah - Photos, Videos, Birthday, Latest News, Height In Feet - FilmiBeat".
17. Vetticad, Anna M. M.. (28 February 2000). "Naseeruddin Shah gets to play Mahatma Gandhi twice".
18. "Naseeruddin Shah's TOI Archives - 100 Years of Indian CinemaPhotos - 100 Yrs of Indian Cinema-Movies-The Times of India Photogallery".
19. "Naseeruddin Shah Unable to Summon Confidence to Direct After 'Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota' for This Reason".
20. "Yun Hota.. the Rediff review".
21. (21 August 1997). "Still waiting, for Mr Godot". [[The Indian Express]].
22. Ansari, Shahab. (4 December 2013). "Naseeruddin Shah says he visited parts of Lahore in disguise". The News International.
23. Roychoudhary, Amborish. (7 March 2013). "Being Naseer". Filmware.
24. (30 March 1998). "Turning Point makes a comeback with new host and producer".
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26. "A quiver full of arrows".
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28. (5 June 2000). "Karadi tales". [[The Hindu]].
29. (27 June 2005). "Pahele is a revelation".
30. (23 August 2017). "The Hungry Trailer: Naseeruddin Shah".
31. Bakshi, Veena. "The Coffin Maker". Shree Narayan Studios.
32. (30 July 2017). "Lipstick Under My Burkha actor Ratna Pathak Shah shares a moment in time from when she dated Naseeruddin Shah". The Indian Express.
33. (24 November 2006). "Naseeruddin Shah's son falls off train". [[The Times of India]].
34. (29 July 2013). "Does Naseeruddin Shah's first marriage and divorce scare his second wife Ratna?". [[Stardust (magazine).
35. (30 July 2017). "Lipstick Under My Burkha actor Ratna Pathak Shah shares a moment in time from when she dated Naseeruddin Shah". The Indian Express.
36. (12 September 2014). "8 things Naseeruddin Shah's autobiography 'Then One Day' tells us about the man".
37. (2014). "And then one day: A memoir". Hamish Hamilton.