Naseeruddin Shah

Biography

Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950 in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh) is an Indian actor and one of the most consistent figures in Hindi cinema, working both in mainstream Bollywood and in the parallel cinema movement. He has also directed films and stage productions, and his career places him among the most respected performers in contemporary India.

He comes from a family of noble descent: his great-great-grandfather was the Afghan warlord Jan-Fishan Khan, who went on to become Nawab of Sardhana. Shah graduated in arts from Aligarh Muslim University in 1971 and went on to train at the National School of Drama in Delhi. He made his acting debut in Nishant (1975), and in the late 1970s he worked often with director Shyam Benegal on films such as Manthan, Junoon and Trikaal.

He gained wider recognition in the 1980s with Sparsh (1980), which earned him a National Film Award for Best Actor, and he shared the screen with Rekha in Umrao Jaan (1981). At the same time he moved into commercial cinema with films such as Masoom and took part in multi-star productions like Karma. His villainous roles in Mohra (1994) and Sarfarosh (1999), where he played a ghazal singer with sinister aims, brought him prominence in mainstream films.

His international profile grew with Monsoon Wedding (2001) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), in which he played Captain Nemo alongside Sean Connery. In Hey Ram (2000) he played Mahatma Gandhi, and in the thriller A Wednesday (2008) he showed a restrained, tense style. His work has earned several honours, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, and in India he received the Padma Shri in 1987 and the Padma Bhushan in 2003.

Outside film, he co-founded the theatre group Motley Productions in 1977 with Tom Alter and Benjamin Gilani, and he has directed plays by Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto. He made his feature directing debut with Yun Hota To Kya Hota (2006). On television he appeared in the series based on the life of Mirza Ghalib and in the adaptation of Nehru's The Discovery of India. He has been married to actress Ratna Pathak since 1982, and the two have often worked together on stage and screen. They have two sons, Imaad and Vivaan, who are also actors.

Shah remains one of the most prolific actors in Indian cinema and continues to work. After a break he returned to film in 2017 with The Hungry, a Shakespearean adaptation shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. His autobiography, And Then One Day, was published by Hamish Hamilton.

Key films

• Nishant (1975): his film debut, in an arthouse drama of the period.
• Umrao Jaan (1981): shared the lead with Rekha in a popular musical drama.
• Monsoon Wedding (2001): his move into international cinema, in a global-facing Indian production.
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003): played Captain Nemo in a Hollywood blockbuster.
• A Wednesday (2008): a tense thriller that showed his restrained acting style.