<p>Having essayed the role of a man madly in love with Vidya Balan in Ishqiya, a womanizer in The Dirty Picture and now the slimy cop in Maximum, Naseeruddin Shah is stretching boundaries of his craft like never before. His second directorial venture John Day is coming up and he has just finished a Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag. <br /><br /></p>.<p>In town to promote Maximum, the veteran actor took time out for a chat with Metrolife.<br /><br />Known for his performances in landmark films like Aakrosh, Sparsh, Paar, Mirch Masala, Mandi, Umrao Jaan, Trikaal and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron among several others, Shah has been truly one of India’s stellar jems in cinema. He considers himself very fortunate to have performed such a huge variety of roles: “Luckily for me, I’ve been getting a variety right from the beginning of my career. I always knew that my strength lies in the ability to change my appearance. For a long time I did this for the sake of doing it but then I realised that one’s appearance has no consequence until it is true to the context,” he ruminates. <br /><br />What kind of satisfaction does he get when he performs such diverse characters? “There is creative satisfaction, satisfaction of working with a large group of very talented people, playing the role itself and of course, the money!” he laughs. <br />Illustrating his method of preparing for a role, Shah shares, “I study the script. It has all the information that an actor can possibly need. If you haven’t already observed the way policemen behave, it is not going to do you any good if you meet a couple of policemen a week before shooting begins. This whole business of observation and absorbing is often misunderstood and not utilised by a lot of actors who claim to do it.”<br /><br />Why do polished theatre actors not get their due? “It is a question of big bucks! Actors like Manoj Bajpai or Nawazuddin Siddiqui are not cast by big producers because their presence does not guarantee big bucks. The industry is nothing but a money manufacturing machine. Creativity has nothing to do with it. But now, a few like Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Kabeer Kaushik are taking chances with scripts,” he says.<br /><br />Is the audience open to experimental acting? “The Indian audience is not to blame for the quality of rubbish that Bollywood churns out. There has been a conscious dumbing down of audience’s tastes because it suits the filmmakers’ purpose and saves effort. Instead of exploring an original idea they remake Hollywood and South Indian movies. It is almost a sin to think of anything original.”<br /><br />He contends that in the next 50 years, the current pattern of masala movies will be replaced by noteworthy films like Gangs of Wasseypur. <br /></p>
<p>Having essayed the role of a man madly in love with Vidya Balan in Ishqiya, a womanizer in The Dirty Picture and now the slimy cop in Maximum, Naseeruddin Shah is stretching boundaries of his craft like never before. His second directorial venture John Day is coming up and he has just finished a Pakistani film Zinda Bhaag. <br /><br /></p>.<p>In town to promote Maximum, the veteran actor took time out for a chat with Metrolife.<br /><br />Known for his performances in landmark films like Aakrosh, Sparsh, Paar, Mirch Masala, Mandi, Umrao Jaan, Trikaal and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron among several others, Shah has been truly one of India’s stellar jems in cinema. He considers himself very fortunate to have performed such a huge variety of roles: “Luckily for me, I’ve been getting a variety right from the beginning of my career. I always knew that my strength lies in the ability to change my appearance. For a long time I did this for the sake of doing it but then I realised that one’s appearance has no consequence until it is true to the context,” he ruminates. <br /><br />What kind of satisfaction does he get when he performs such diverse characters? “There is creative satisfaction, satisfaction of working with a large group of very talented people, playing the role itself and of course, the money!” he laughs. <br />Illustrating his method of preparing for a role, Shah shares, “I study the script. It has all the information that an actor can possibly need. If you haven’t already observed the way policemen behave, it is not going to do you any good if you meet a couple of policemen a week before shooting begins. This whole business of observation and absorbing is often misunderstood and not utilised by a lot of actors who claim to do it.”<br /><br />Why do polished theatre actors not get their due? “It is a question of big bucks! Actors like Manoj Bajpai or Nawazuddin Siddiqui are not cast by big producers because their presence does not guarantee big bucks. The industry is nothing but a money manufacturing machine. Creativity has nothing to do with it. But now, a few like Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Kabeer Kaushik are taking chances with scripts,” he says.<br /><br />Is the audience open to experimental acting? “The Indian audience is not to blame for the quality of rubbish that Bollywood churns out. There has been a conscious dumbing down of audience’s tastes because it suits the filmmakers’ purpose and saves effort. Instead of exploring an original idea they remake Hollywood and South Indian movies. It is almost a sin to think of anything original.”<br /><br />He contends that in the next 50 years, the current pattern of masala movies will be replaced by noteworthy films like Gangs of Wasseypur. <br /></p>
