Naseeruddin Shah: If my presence disturbs a co-worker it is not a compliment

New Delhi, July 20

Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah is not flattered when young actors confess about being nervous in front of him. He says he does not consider the situation to be a compliment or an accomplishment.

“It doesn’t please me when young actors say they are nervous when they are working with me, because I don’t think that’s a compliment,” said the actor.

He added: “If my presence disturbs a co-worker, then that is not a compliment or an accomplishment on my part. I try to help them overcome their nervousness, I don’t always succeed,” he said, adding: “I don’t remember being nervous in the presence of an actor who I liked very much, including Dilip Kumar, Sean Connery and Ashok Kumar. It was in fact a pleasure meeting them. So, if an actor gets nervous in my presence, it’s not a good thing,” he added.

Shah is widely regarded as one known India’s greatest actors ever, and his numerous feted performances include roles in “Paar”, “Nishant”, “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro”, “Ijaazat”, “Manthan”, “Mirch Masala” and “Mirza Ghalib”. He will now be seen in the upcoming web series, “Bandish Bandits”.

“I decide my roles based on my instinct. I don’t think too deeply about it. When I am offered a role, I just think whether I want to do it or not. It is as simple as that. Now, there may be many reasons for wanting to do the role. What interested me with this role was that the character wasn’t purely white. Characters with grey shades interest me more,” he said while talking about the reasons behind doing the web show.

“If this man would have been a good grandfather who takes care of everyone and sacrifices his life for the hero, then maybe I wouldn’t have done it,” he added.

He continued: “His role has many shades, which I liked. Apart from that, the challenge of singing… I have struggled to sing on screen and in real life as well. I crossed one barrier with ‘Mirza Ghalib’, but Gulzar bhai and Jagjit Singh played a big role in making that successful. If this role gets popular, the credit would go to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.”

The trailer of “Bandish Bandits” was released on his birthday. The 10-part romantic musical drama also features Ritwik Bhowmik, Shreya Chaudhry, Atul Kulkarni, Sheeba Chaddha, Kunal Roy Kapur and Rajesh Tailang. The series follows the love story of two young performers from very different musical backgrounds.

Ritwik plays a Hindustani classical performer named Radhe, and Shreya is the pop star Tamanna. The Amazon Prime Video series also features an original soundtrack composed by musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who make their digital debut with the show, created and produced by Amritpal Singh Bindra and directed by Anand Tiwari. It will launch on August 4.