Naseeruddin Shah: I’m out of movie work

Naseeruddin Shah has been busy of late. Between his play The Father that’s having a month-long run at the NCPA Experimental Theatre, conducting acting classes, swimming and playing tennis, he’s got it all sorted. But the one thing he isn’t doing is acting in movies. “I’m out of work,” Naseer states simply, when we meet him for a chat at his Bandra residence, adding that he’s glad he doesn’t have films at the moment, as it’s giving him time to do what he wants. Over to the veteran actor...

You may not be acting in films but are you watching a lot of movies?

I’m happy with some of the movies I have seen in recent times like Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Nude, Dum Laga Ke Haisha and Kaun Kitne Paani Mein — the latter was a totally unknown film which I saw on TV one day. Several other films like Anarkali of Arrah, Ankhon Dekhi, Death In A Gunj and Newton were also good. But all these filmmakers get snapped up so fast by the Bollywood machine. It chews them up and spits them out. They made these movies out of conviction, but the moment one of these movies succeeds, they get snapped up by the movie-making factories and then they have to conform.

The boundaries between commercial and art cinema have been blurring now...

It’s a good thing. Films don’t get stamped as art films and the audience doesn’t need any help in deciding. They smell it out, as Dubeyji (Satyadev Dubey) used to say. ‘Audience soongh leti hai kaunsi film kaisi hai’. It’s true. Even among the ones being made now, I know which ones I want to see and that has been the case since school. ‘Six months from now, Shammi Kapoor ki jo film aa rahi hai woh dekhni hai!’’

Have you been offered any projects on the digital platforms?

I’ve been offered a few things but I didn’t find them interesting. I’ve been doing some short films with young people and that’s been great fun.

After month-long runs at Prithvi Theatre and NCPA last year, you’re back on the stage with your play, The Father...

Yes, and by the time this month ends, we would have completed 80 shows. Then we’ll need to do a few more to make a 100. We’re planning to take it to Bengaluru and also to Pune, so we will achieve that figure. It’s quite an achievement because we have managed to do this in a-year-and-a-half. It took us about 20 years to do 100 shows of Waiting for Godot! (laughs) 

Do you think the success of the play will encourage other theatre companies to follow suit with the format?

I always felt that it’s possible to do it, but the problem is most theatre companies don’t have the resources. One has to book a theatre for a month which means a fat amount of money. And now these theatres cost a lot. Then the actors have to be available for a month. So, I don’t expect that everybody will start doing it. I did it because I could afford to do it. The actors I chose have all given their commitments and it’s been great fun.

When you were doing the play for the first time, you had said that it’s a complex one, but you never underestimate the intelligence of the audience.

Absolutely, and the response has been very encouraging. At the same time, there are always walkouts in every show. I don’t mind. Maybe those people found the play confusing, which is actually the playwright’s purpose, to put you into the mind of the character. So if you’re confused at the end, it’s intended, provided the experience has given you something of seeing this man. But the majority of audience stay on and that has been really good to see.

What’s the kind of feedback you have received from audience members?

So many of them come and tell me about some member of their family, or some relative.  And everybody knows what it’s like, because at some some point or the other, one feels that their parents have grown old, and that they don’t understand them. So, it’s easy to empathise with the situation where this man has receded to this point that nothing he does is making sense to anybody. They come and say ‘it must be so hard for you’, but it’s not hard for me. I’m just telling them a story. It’s hard on the audience.

You have always maintained that you don’t like audience members coming backstage to talk to you post a show, but seems like it was different this time...

I’m allergic to selfie-hunters after the show! But this time, I actually had meaningful conversations with people. A number of youngsters have come to me, some of them went away when I told them ‘no selfies’. But some stayed and spoke to me. That has been really wonderful. One of them actually said ‘thank you for doing this because today, I understood my grandmother. She was just like this’. I don’t feel that I have achieved perfection or anything close to it. But I have at least managed to convey the essence of this play and that’s what I feel happy about.

What next?

I’m planning a month-long run of a play called Old World for November next year. It’s a lovely play which I had seen, enacted by my heroes Mr and Mrs Kendall of Shakespearana Theatre Company.