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Naseeruddin Shah’s latest film Michael explores the father-son A father-son relationship has hardly been explored in Indian cinema, especially Hindi films. Many a film has dealt with either the father-daughter or mother-son relationship," Naseeruddin Shah asserts as he speaks about his forthcoming film Michael. The acting icon, considered the greatest after Balraj Sahni, has just completed three and a half decades in films. Naseeruddin Shah was in Kolkata to shoot for Michael, an Anurag Kashyap production, directed by debutant director, Ribhu Das Gupta.
Explaining his character in Michael, Naseeruddin Shah, says, "After quite a long gap of two and a half years, I am the lead in this interesting film. I am Michael, a Christian senior cop of Kolkata, who has been dismissed from duty after being wrongly convicted. I have taken life as it is and my ambition is to nurture my only son played by Purab Bhandare. Michael is a contemporary psychological thriller with a difference and director, Ribhu Das Gupta has dared to go offbeat with the film." The grand actor assures that his character in Michael has no resemblances to his earlier well-acclaimed performance in Ardh Satya. He explains, "I hate repeating myself and that is one of the reasons why I have stopped signing films. Hardly do I come across a character with solid substance these days and Michael is my truly intriguing role of modern times. I enjoyed shooting in North and other parts of Kolkata which have a history of their own and really enjoyed working with Purab, who is a gifted actor as well as Mahi Gill who is the female protagonist but not a conventional heroine." A Wednesday and Ishqiya were the last films in which one came across Naseeruddin Shah performing with characteristic aplomb in the lead. Does he not feel that his talent was being wasted by the film industry? Naseeruddin Shah laughs heartily, "I will not blame the industry but the fact is that very seldom characters offered to me were inspiring. I was content performing, Bhaskar Ganguly, a revolutionary in Rajneeti, and my cameo as Dr Madhusudan Majumdar in Saat Khoon Maaf is also interesting. It has positive as well as negative shades and speaking my lines in Bengali was quite a challenge. After all, I did deliver my dialogues in Pratidan a commercial Bengali film about two decades ago in which I performed with another gifted actor, Victor Banerjee." Naseeruddin Shah, who has proved his versatility in intense, comic as well as action dramas and is still remembered for his excellent sense of timing in Jaane Bhi Do Yaron, Malamaal and Katha, confesses, "Even today, my favourites are Sparsh, Masoom and Paar. I also enjoyed working in the serial, Mirza Ghalib, which I rank among my favourite ones." Why does an actor par excellence like him want to quit acting in films? To this, Naseeruddin Shah replies, "I don’t want to appear a joker on screen in the present inane, stupid films being churned out in the name of new age cinema. It is far better to concentrate on stage as it is more challenging and gives me a lot of creative freedom and satisfaction." Though he is out and out a method actor, Naseeruddin Shah has transcended barriers of method whenever the situation demanded him to do so. He has followed both the Brechtian and Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts Schools whilst performing on stage with resounding success. He ends the conversation
by stating, "The true trendsetters of acting in Indian cinema are
Pahari Sanyal, Motilal, earlier Dilip Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee.
Pahari Sanyal had a fluidity unknown to Indian cinema, Motilal was
nearer to greatness than Balraj Sahni, Dilip Kumar was the master
underplayer and Soumitra Chatterjee simply lived his characters in
films like Apur Sansar, Devi and Charulata."
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