And then one candid evening with the Shah

Bengaluru: Releasing actor Naseeruddin Shah’s book ‘And Then One Day’, historian and author Ramachandra Guha called it “one of the best memoirs I have read in recent times”.
The actor’s recently published candid memoirs have created quite a stir – though not quite in the way actors’ memoirs usually make headlines; that is, by revealing gossipy secrets about their colleagues.
Shah’s memoirs — covering his life between “zero and 32” — are candid because they offer an honest, unsparing look at himself as an actor and as a man, and its tone is almost penitent at times when he owns up to his youthful arrogance, over-confidence and selfishness, especially where it concerned his first marriage and his daughter, Heeba.
“His self-deprecating humour makes this book an exceptionally enjoyable read,” said Guha, who was in conversation with the actor in Bengaluru on Saturday evening, drawing him out to talk about his childhood in Nainital and Ajmer, his two brothers Zaheer and Zameer, and his years as a student at the NSD and FTII.
“My brothers were the only ones who supported me in my mad passion to be an actor. We watched films and plays together, and it was while watching Geoffrey Kendal perform Shylock the Jew that I decided to become an actor. Mr Kendal had the most enormous, lasting influence on me as an actor,” said Shah.
Shah said he had no idea he would publish his memoirs one day. “I wrote the first 99 pages over 10 years, taking it really slow, and going back to revise it if I felt something was not right. I was really writing it for myself; to satisfy myself as a reader. I felt almost impelled to write.”
Concluding the riveting conversation, Guha, who had earlier revealed that he shared at least two passions – cricket and history – with the actor, said, “The last question. Sachin Tendular or Rahul Dravid?” Amid uproarious laughter from the crowd, Shah replied without batting an eyelid: “Dravid.”
“Would you say the same thing in Mumbai?” Guha asked. “Yes,” replied Shah, grinning boyishly.
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Quotes:
I believed I was the best actor
When I joined the National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi after graduating from Aligarh, it was a wonderfully liberating experience. It was amazing to have girls in the same class; even more amazingly, we had a common hostel for boys and girls. And believe me, there were no scandals. The scandals started after they separated the hostels… When I joined NSD, I was the most conceited young man you can imagine. I believed I was the best actor in the world, and I wasted my time there, though I enjoyed myself thoroughly. But after three years, it hit me that I hadn’t really become any better than I was when I had joined – I was still the best actor in the world but I could have become the best actor in the cosmos. Then I decided to join the Film and Television Institute in Pune. My father was horrified. He said: “Five years to become an actor? You could have become a doctor!”
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After Tridev was released, I had to put up with ‘Oye Oye!’ [a song from the film] at traffic lights for almost 20 years. Now, all I hear is ‘ooh la la, ooh la la’ [a song from The Dirty Picture in which Shah played an ageing south Indian superstar]. I’m 64 now, I don’t know which song I’ll get to hear after another 10 years.
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I have acted in two kannada films — Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane and Mane, which was directed by Girish Kasaravalli. But I’m sad to say I could not really get my tongue around the language and both times my voice had to be dubbed, which I’m sure took away from my performance. People say I speak English and Urdu/Hindustani equally well, and it’s very gratifying, but I must say I was an utter failure in kannada as well as Malayalam because the only Malayalam film I acted in also had to be dubbed.