At the launch of his autobiography, Naseeruddin Shah opened up his heart to his fans who turned up in big numbers to shower their love and support. Divya Kaushik reports
It would only be for a man as genuine, kind and honest as him that the crowd would pour in a huge number to stand by him for a big occasion of his life. Apart from the expected guests, his wife, friends and relatives, there were fans from all over the city (ranging from 16 to 80) who stood in a long queue an hour before the launch of Naseeruddin Shah’s autobiography And Then One Day. What made the launch event more special was the discussion between the noted author Pradip Krishen and an actor, wherein the latter turned the leaves of his life and disclosed secrets with as much honesty and clarity as is done in the book. From why he felt miserable as a child to his days of struggle, the evening was all about interesting anecdotes. Some were shared by Shah’s dear friend Om Puri, too, like, “The credit for turning me into a non-vegetarian, while we were studying together at National School of Drama (NSD), goes to Naseer. One day while having our meal, he told me, ‘Why don’t you try little bit gravy of the korma, it will be good.’ I tried and was pleased. Then later one day, he told me, ‘Try that little piece of chicken, it is not bad.’ I did and I loved it. And ever after we had all brain curry and every sort of meat delicacy together.
During the discussion Shah also shared his opinions about the new-age cinema and why a film like Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday was a huge hit. He said, “A Wednesday was a fantasy, it was not a believable film. The reason it succeeded was because it was an exciting script and the character does what many of us have been wanting to do. The audience could empathise with the character, its delimma and frustration. Someone told me that the film demonises Muslims. I don’t agree. I don’t think the film industry demonises Muslims. It only caricaturises them, like they do with everything else. Christians are caricaturised, Sikhs are caricaturised and so are the Parsis. Hindi films don’t get anything right.” Excerpts of the discussion:
On his book
It took me 12 years to write it as I was lazy. But when I started to write it I was doing it for my own self, I did not know it will get published. I found great joy in going back to my childhood memories, recalling them and checking with the brothers whether it actually happened. I have been asked whether it was difficult to be so frank. No, because I was trying to recall the past with as much clarity as possible. And I thought that if I am not going to be honest than what’s the point of writing it. The book shares half of my life. In fact I was tempted to call the book Half A life but I think there is already a book existing by that name. It forms the struggles, aspirations, dreams and everything else that was important to be told.
School days and early life
Though my father (baba) disapproved of most things I did but he never broke my confidence the way teachers in St Joseph did. My father always reminded me that I was an intelligent boy and I was just squandering my chances. The teachers in the school told me that I would end up on streets begging for my bread and that my parents were wasting their money and tell them to take you out.
Baba never told me I was inferior but it was the teachers who told me that. It was my own insecurities, my own failings, my own inhibitions which convinced me that I was an idiot. I didn’t have too many friends in the school, I was not interested in what was being taught unless it was literature, poetry or drama, rest of the stuff made no sense to me. Most of the students left me alone because I was not good at anything. I had two brothers to make matters worst. One of whom was an academic wiz and the other was a sports athletic champion, an all rounder. I was inevitably compared to them and put down further. But the good thing that St Joseph did to me was that it created in me the fondness for drama, theatre and literature. There were school productions and operas. It educated me in cinema most of all, we saw a film weekly and sometimes twice a week. It was magical. Since I was left alone talking to my own self, something which we all do, I imitated actors I had seen. I was resolved by the age of 12 or 13 that it is only acting I could do. The actors I had seen were Gary Poulter, John Wayne and from India, Shammi Kapoor and Dev Anand.
I could see that I was nothing like an actor should look like. I spent many hours examining my face and figure out what can I do. I tried to look like myself and thought may be I can be Jerry lewis. And then one day, that is where the title of my book comes from, I saw a film called The Old man and The Sea. There are only two characters in the film, an old man, Spencer Tracy, and the fish. Spencer was an actor looking like a real person. It was massive realisation that I can be an actor, too. I may not look like many actors but I have a face which is capable of changing expressions, being transparent. In the moment of enthusiasm I wrote to baba a two page letter about the Old Man and the Sea. I got the reply saying, ‘I am not interested in the stories of picture that you saw, I want you to concentrate on your studies.’
His days at NSD
To me the existence of a place like NSD was unreal. I could not believe that there is a place called NSD where all the students study and stage drama. I thought to myself there has to be a catch. But it turned out that there was no catch and I would be getting `200 per month on top of everything. It just seemed too good to be real. I was selected and Om Puri and I were in the same class. It was after coming here I realised that I know nothing about Indian theatre. I was asked by a teacher how many Hindi plays we have read and I realised that I haven’t read a single Hindi play in my entire life. The only Hindi reading I had done was either film magazines or Mastram. It was a time when it was seeming that there was a renaissance in Indian theatre in the offing. Girish Karnad was at his peak, Vijay Tendulkar was at his peak. It was also the exciting time as far as cinema was concerned. It was a stimulating time to be exposed to all the new things. The film movement has continued the theatre movement hasn’t taken off the way it was anticipated and I dare say it is just because of the paucity of playwrights in our country. Neither the art of playwriting nor the art of screenwriting seemed to have taken off in our country but it was a time of dreaming, hippy culture.
Word for the budding actors
‘learn your lines and don’t bump into the furniture on stage.’ This is the only rule for acting. Acting is a craft like carpentary and pottery, there is nothing mystical about it. Anyone who talks about the metaphysics of acting should be shunted out of the door. Acting is all hard labour which is what I learnt from Om Puri. I later started applying myself the way I watched him do. NSD gave me exposure and I acted on stage. I then went to film institute and it was the last place I expect to open up my mind but it did.