Naseeruddin Shah on completing his ‘aap beeti’

MUMBAI: Veteran theatre and film actor Naseeruddin Shah, who recently released his autobiography titled And Then One Day, said he hasn’t chronicled his entire life in the book. But he has qualms about writing a second part of his own biography. 

In And Then One Day, Shah gives readers a peek into his life, discussing everything from both his marriages, to his daughter Sheeba, to his career trajectory. Shah stops the memoir at age 40. “I have completed the story up to my second wedding [to actor Ratna Patak Shah]. But I don’t know whether I will write the second half or not. It will take another 12 years, at least,” said the virtuoso.

The autobiography chronicling the actor’s personal and professional life had been in the making for the past four years. The amount of time it took him to finish writing the book made him question whether he would be able to conclude the book or not. “I didn’t keep [writing the book] as a secret. I just thought I will never complete it.”

Interestingly, the actor, who has multiple accolades to his credit, said he wrote the book out of boredom. “I began writing it because I was bored. I have written some articles in the past for a few magazines and I enjoyed writing,” said the 64-year-old , who has starred in over 200 films in his four-decade-long career.

From theatre to parallel cinema to mainstream films, both local and global, Shah’s body of work boasts of diversity and quality. It was because of his notable contribution to arts and culture that he was honoured with the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan, India’s third and fourth-highest civilian awards, respectively.

He shared that a compliment from historian-writer Ramchandra Guha drove him to write the autobiography. “The driving force behind it was Guha, who read one of my articles on [former Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan] Pataudi, and said he liked it. I was very kicked about that,” he commented.

“Guha asked me if I have written anything else, so, I gave him the first 100 pages of the book,” he further said. “He liked it and said I have to finish this. He was my unofficial editor before I found a publisher.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2014.

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