NASEERUDDIN SHAH
Shah Of Cinema

A man with immense potential to mould him into any reel character, Naseeruddin Shah today belongs to the class of inimitable actors. After taking a sabbatical from commercial Hindi cinema to concentrate on his oh-so-homely theatre, he is setting foot back in tinsel town, with Monsoon Wedding creating ripples…

A tête-à-tête with Naseer…

What is it that attracted you towards Monsoon Wedding?
Monsoon Wedding basically portrays the fun and festivity during wedding season in the upper-middle North Indian families. The film recreates reality, bringing a bunch of issues into focus. But the novelty of the film lies in lending the story a traditional yet realistic touch. There is nothing fictional about its story or treatment… You see it happening in the upper middle class society of Delhi to which Mira herself belongs. And that is what is unique about it. And that is the very reason why it has worked so well with the audiences.

Tell us something about your role?
I am a middle class father, Lalit Verma, who believes that his life’s ultimate responsibility is to get his daughter married. He is very simplistic, depicting the image of any middle class parent; always engulfed by middle class problems. But every grievance becomes secondary when it comes to giving his daughter a royal farewell. In the process of this wedding, he also resolves his long-pending problems with his wife. What is also interesting about this character that in his ultimate quest of the best wedding for his daughter, he is not aware of the drama that is taking place in her life.

Can you associate with this character?
In a way, yes. I like the unpretentiousness of the man. As a person, even I am quite straightforward and believe in being down-to-earth. I like the veracity in the man’s personality. In fact I always desired to play such a realistic role.

What do you feel is very unique about the film?
The most stupendous facet of Monsoon Wedding is that if on one side everyone is enthusiastic about the wedding, the other side of the coin shows five stories taking their own course, the most stunning being the relationship between the bride herself; her ex-lover and her would be hubby.

How did you find working with Mira Nair?
Mira knows exactly what she wants from her artistes and also how to extract that. Plus all her movies always have something special. They are not oft- repeated scripts. In fact she had asked me to be a part of her previous venture Salaam Bombay too. But things couldn’t be worked out. Naturally I couldn’t miss out on this one.

Heard you are planning a film on Mahatma Gandhi?
Well, I am certainly looking forward to it, but everything is a very preliminary stage at the moment. I am planning to direct a film focusing on Gandhiji’s satyagraha movement in South Africa. Honestly speaking, enacting Gandhi has been my dream.