‘I have been very lucky’
Naseeruddin Shah may have turned sixty but he is still going strong.
“Thirty five years ago, I wanted to do films with great roles and also desperately wanted to be recognised on the Bollywood map. I have been lucky enough to make a name for myself. Ironically, at this juncture of my life I have changed priorities I am not looking for mainstream cinema or any great character. All I crave for is a good, happening and intriguing tale with a different character. I am lucky to have been bestowed upon characters not portrayed on the silver screen as yet by the younger generation. It makes me feel privileged.”
Discussing about his character in the film ‘Michael’, he quips, “This police officer’s role is unlike any other police officer’s character seen on the silver screen. This character is chucked out of the police job. Unknowingly he commits crime just to offer everything to his son. He cannot be compared to the role I played in Arthsatya.”
In ‘The Blueberry Hunt’, he plays a marijuana planter. The heroine of this film Aahana Kumra has learnt acting under of Naseer himself. “I always ask my students to get into the thick of the character. As a matter of fact, I follow a Russian form of acting and teach this to all my students. If they perform well, they will definitely bring out the artiste in them.”
He adds, “I play the character of a recluse colonel, living in a forest. But he is secure with high technical surveillance equipment, and also cultivates marijuana. He takes care of a woman and then the hunt begins.”
“Even in ‘Michael’, I look different because I did not have time to shave. ‘The Blueberry Hunt’ is totally a different film with an environmental background the look has to be that way. I am happy that people like me in that shabby yet appealing look,” he says with a twinkle in his eyes.
