Naseeruddin Shah On His New Projects

 The  indomitable  Naseeruddin Shah is  being seen once again not only  in a feature film but also on  a webseries.

In cinematographer  Baba Azmi’s  directorial debut Mee Raqsam  Naseer  stars as a rigid religious leader  who  learns  the true value  of  a liberal mind  the  hard way

Naseer  says he  he did the film for the sake  of  Baba Azmi  and also because he loved the  script. “Mee Raqsam  is one of the most important films I’ve done, akin to Khuda ke Liye which deals with a subject close to my heart and something I myself have gone through.”

 The   actor par excellence has  only words  of  praise for his Mee Raqsam director. “ Baba has been a dear friend for a longtime now, I was very happy to be in his film and he is the coolest creature I’ve been directed by.”

Naseer sees the  OTT platform as  the way ahead. “The  digital world is the future and one can’t be left behind, also Bandish Bandits has a great script and I have a very challenging part in it of a classical vocal exponent.”

    Naseer has been  using  the  long stretches of lockdown-time  to  educate himself  further.  “ I’ve been brushing up on my Urdu reading and am thanking my stars that my father made me learn the Arabic alphabet as a child. My ability to read Urdu is fast improving, but writing it is another ball game so I’m not trying that-as it is I sometimes cannot read my own handwriting in English!”

Urdu poet  Faiz Ahmed Faiz  and William  Shakespeare  have  also been  getting their share  of attention from Naseer. “ I’m reading a lot of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry and about his life with a view to mounting something on stage about him in the future ,if there is a future!. AND I’ve been educating myself on those Shakespeare plays I know nothing about-and there are plenty!”

Naseer is also trying to make  himself useful to wife Ratna  Shah at home. “I’ve been helping around the house, in the kitchen as well, which is something I should have been doing earlier anyway.I never knew what a stressbuster cooking can be!”