Naseeruddin Shah narrates his journey to stardom

Karachi
The Oxford University Press (OUP) launched the autobiography of award-winning Indian film actor and matinee idol, Naseeruddin Shah, titled, “And Then One Day: A Memoir” on Monday evening at the OUP head office.
The book gives a candid account of his early years covering his extraordinary journey from a feudal hamlet near Meerut, to Catholic schools in Nainital and Ajmer, before finally making it to stage and film stardom in Mumbai.
Along the way, he recounts his passages through Aligarh University, the National School of Drama and the Film and Television Institute of India, where his luck finally began to change.
“And Then One Day” is a compelling account, written with honesty, consummate elegance and tongue-in-cheek humour. There are moving portraits of family members, dark-witted accounts of his school days and vivid cameos of directors and actors he has worked with. Among them are Ebrahim Alkazi, Shyam Bengal, Girish Karnad, Om Puri, and Shabana Azmi.
He rates Director Elkazi as a person with utmost sophistication and typical “Britishness”, but as one who couldn’t put his soul into acting. Shah says he really got to know all about acting at the Film Training Institute at Poone and narrates the hardships that he had to undergo in Mumbai (then Bombay) where he often had to share a big bedroom with 30 other people who, in the morning, just rolled up the beddings and put them away.
He narrated how he was sent packing. “I was sent back home with the intervention of Dilip Kumar,” he said.
The book is brimming with delightful anecdotes as well as poignant, but often painful revelations. Talking about himself, he said, “I was no good as a student, at school or at college but I, all along, had my focus fixed. It was acting,” Shah said.
Talking about the Bollywood movies in general, he remarked, “The whole world watches Bollywood movies because of the spice they have to offer.”
One of the people, Shah was all praise for was the veteran Indian actor, Pran, someone who acted in movies since the dawn of the Indian cinema with his debut in Lahore-based movies. In certain cases, Shah commented on the poorly-accented English of certain film stars and narrated a case where one of the directors shouted, “Bring the sheet!” but his accent was such that the word “sheet” seemed to be spelt with an “I” instead of a double E.
Among the many masterpieces Shah has acted in, is Ghalib, the life of the legendary Urdu poet. According to him, initially Sanjeev Kumar had been cast for the central role but then he says he wrote to Gulzar to tell him that Sanjeev Kumat was just not suited to role of Mirza Ghalib. At the launch, Shah was interviewed by film director and screenwriter Menu Gaur. His remarks were profusely punctuated with humour and often sent the audience into peals of laughter.
Naseeruddin Shah has been a film actor since 1975, besides being an actor-director-teacher in theatre almost for just as long. He has played the lead in over 200 feature films and more than 60 professional theatre productions, both in India and abroad and is a recipient of numerous awards.
With remarkable candidness and objective self-assessment, Shah narrated his struggle to earn a living through acting, his experiments with the craft, his successes and failures.
In her welcome address, Ameena Saiyid, OUP-Pakistan’s managing director, said “And Then One Day” was very well-written and highly readable. “The style is warm, open and remarkably candid. Shah Sahib, whatever his fame and stature, does not suffer from either reticence or an inflated ego,” she added.
Naz Ikramullah, a practising visual artist, also spoke on the occasion.
Alternating her speech between Urdu and English, she highly lauded Shah’s acting and stage acumen.