Naseeruddin Shah makes surprise virtual appearance at Karachi Literature Festival

Naseeruddin Shah treated fans to a virtual appearance at the  Karachi Literature Festival, where he discussed his transition from commercial to parallel cinema, his inspirations and his connection with Mirza Ghalib. 

Shedding light on how he started out at a commercial actor despite his unlikeness, he said, “I worked in commercial cinema despite not having the looks of a hero. I never fit in either but I suppose it was my mother’s prayers that got me here.”

“I’ve done a lot of underwhelming films. But it was always actors like Anthony Quinn that kept me going. They weren’t great looking either but they kept getting work because of their capability to deliver,” the 71-year-old actor described.

Talking about his inspirations, Shah revealed his craft is influenced from Hollywood films which he got a chance to watch ‘unsupervised’ during childhood.

“I would end up comparing Uran Khatola to The Wizard of Oz, a film like Azaad to The Prisoner of Zenda. I could see clearly the problems with Hindi films from back then,” Shah recalled. 

“But I also knew that if I wanted to be an actor, I’ll have to work with similar problems. In the early 70s, Hindi cinema had also started churning out serious films and I made a mission to find a way to work in them.”

The host, Shahzaad Sharjeel, told the actor of the popularity of his film Mirza Ghalib in Pakistan, to which he replied that his paternal aunt and uncle had the house in the same street where Ghalib resided.

He went on saying, “We’d always see this beautiful haveli that was in shambles and everyone would tell us that a ‘poet named Mirza Ghalib used to live here’.”