Happy Birthday Naseeruddin Shah: Unconventional Roles Played By The Veteran Bollywood Actor

Mumbai: Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, who is known for his power-packed performances and unconventional roles is going to turn a year older on July 20. From playing a blind man in ‘Sparsh’ to the father of an illegitimate child, he did justice to all the characters played by him on-screen. He has been honoured with the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan awards for his remarkable work in the film industry.

He acted in movies such as ‘Hum Paanch’, ‘Nishant’, ‘Aakrosh’, ‘Sparsh’, ‘Mirch Masala’, ‘Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai’, ‘Bhavni Bhavai’, ‘Junoon’, ‘Mandi’, ‘Ardh Satya’, ‘Katha’, ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’, ‘Ijaazat’, ‘Jalwa’, ‘Ghulami’, ‘Mohra’,’ Monsoon Wedding’ among others. Every time, he took up any role, be it commercial or unconventional, he proved his acting prowess. As the actor is going to celebrate his birthday, let us look at some of his best work in films:

Sparsh (1980)

The movie touches on a very sensitive subject and brings out the complications and challenges faced by blind people. Being part of such a film and doing justice to the role is never easy but Shah did it with complete dedication. By playing the character of a visually impaired principal, he tried to bring out the emotions of a blind man and how he deals with the world of sighted people. The film also stars Shabana Azmi.

Bazaar (1982)

Bringing out the social reality and how women are often forced in society to go against their will, this film gave a strong message. Starring Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Shaikh, Smita Patil and Supriya Pathak, the film was all about how younger women were forced to marry older men for money and showed their position in the patriarchal society.  Again, Shah proved himself to be a perfect actor in the film.

Masoom (1983)

Another out-of-the-box role portrayed by him was of the father of an illegitimate child. In a very subtle way, the movie has dealt with various realities of society. Challenges of a single father strained marital relationships and emotional turmoil, a lot has been threaded together and nevertheless, the veteran actor played every part with excellence. The depth of emotions between father and son was the strong point of the movie. It features Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi in lead roles along with Tanuja, Supriya Pathak and Saeed Jaffrey. Jugal Hansraj, Aradhana and Urmila Matondkar were seen as child actors.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

This film proved Shah was an actor par excellence. As he displayed his comic skills in this 1983 satirical black comedy starring Ravi Baswani, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah, Satish Kaushik, Bhakti Barve and Neena Gupta. Playing one of the two photographers who try to solve the murder mystery and corruption, Shah no doubt proved that he can bring smiles to faces also with his acting skills.

Sarfarosh (1999)

Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Sarfarosh’ was another landmark film of his career. He has played multifaceted characters with perfection and this movie was an example of it.  In such a marvellous way, he played Gulfam, a deceptive character who looks so soft-hearted, a shaayar, a ghazal singer and the main antagonist, a ruthless person working for Pakistani intelligence.