‘My biography was inspired by boredom’

Lucknow: Guess the genesis of Naseeruddin Shah’s autobiography ‘And Then One Day: A Memoir’.
“I was acting in an extremely boring film and just to kill the boredom, I thought of writing a book,” said the accomplished actor, participating in the ongoing Lucknow Literature Carnival in Lucknow on Tuesday. “I had the money to publish a book and I wanted to test my memory, so I decided to write an autobiography,” said Shah, evoking surprise and mirth from the audience at the event.Accompanied by his actress wife Ratna Pathak-Shah, he regaled the gathering with insights into his life and work in his delightfully witty style.
Among the audience were some who had acted with him, some who had known his family closely and some who had been his children’s teachers.
His candid memoir was launched at the literature carnival, though it was released earlier in September and is already enjoying success for Shah’s blatant revelation of his women, drugs, acting, literature and the estranged relation with his father. Born in Barabanki, Shah had been a student of Loreto Convent in the primary section when his father was ADM city in Lucknow before he was sent for studies to Ajmer and Nainital.
Choosing acting over becoming a doctor or a lawyer as suggested by his father, Shah wanted to be popular right from the start. He confessed to being as “arrogant” as Mirza Ghalib and considered no one better than him to play the part and he stated it categorically in the letter he wrote to director Gulzar.
Revisiting the first five-star hotel he ever stayed in, Clark’s Avadh, he was asked why a film on Begum Hazrat Mahal was never made, to which he replied quickly, “Can you think of an item number that would go well with the film? Ideas, titles, concepts all have become saleable now. A filmed titled Udaas Kavi will not do well but Do Dhamakey could do very well. That’s how superficial the film industry is.” Having a connection with Lucknow, Shah shared with the gathering his love for the city’s architecture and its cuisine.
Shah expressed his willingness to create on celluloid not just his autobiography, but also other books and poems he has wanted to be put in the audio format, especially for the visually impaired. This came in response to a request made by Dr Rakesh Jain, HOD, English Department, National PG College, who was a part of Shah’s film on the blind ‘Sparsh’ at the age of 16.
Chiding the Hindi film industry for mindless entertainment, the Shah couple reiterated that acting is a craft and not an art where only perseverance and ability speaks. According to Naseer a person should taking up acting as a profession only if he “would rather die if not act”.