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The incomparable Naseeruddin Shah plays a role inspired by, hold your breath Fernando Rey in the 1971 crime caper
classic The French Connection.
After the success of Ishqiya there are lots of movie offers that Naseer is considering. "Suddenly my enthusiasm for film
acting is up. I'm looking at a lot of parts. At the moment I've Dev Anand Saab's Charge Sheet where I play this
underworld don who operates in Mumbai from Dubai.
The character's look and traits are inspired by Fernando
Rey in The French Connection. I loll around in bed with this lovely lady."
Characteristically Naseer is clueless as to who's playing the "lovely lady". What prompted Naseer to accept the film?
"It's Dev Saab's film. No one says no to Dev Uncle. He's one of the most charming gentlemen in our film industry."
Naseer recently returned from Bangalore from what he describes as one of the most incredible experiences of his life
as an actor.
Recounting the experience Naseer says, "It's always a pleasure to perform on stage in Bangalore. We were doing this
really intense moment from Waiting For Godot at the Chowdaiah Memorial Hall when this irate lady with an old
gentleman in tow simply walked on to the stage to complain about the cars parked outside."
For a few minutes Naseer and the other actors were thrown completely off-course. "All of us on stage were first jolted
and livid. In all my years as an actor this was a first. No one had ever done such a thing. I immediately decided to call
of the performance."
But then better sense prevailed. "I soon realized the lady had a long-standing and understandable grievance and she
had been suffering for a long time because of the parking issue. So we carried on after a break.
But I must
say it was the theatre of the aburd at its absurdest. Incredibly the lady left the stage after triggering off a chaos in the
middle of our Godot. The poor gentleman accompanying her was left to his own devices on stage."
Chuckling at the memory Naseer says. "It's always good to look at the absurd side of life. But imagine what such an
experience would've done to a young actor just starting out. What inspires and enthuses me the most at this point of
time is to teach acting. The look of hope and joy I see in the kids' eyes as they listen to me is truly inspiring."
Saturday, May 15, 2010 13:28 IST