MUMBAI: Veteran Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah and US-based Indian film-maker Mira Nair have worked together in Monsoon Wedding and he has nothing but compliments for her. Shah is in complete awe of the director’s positive attitude and her perseverance to experiment with different styles of film-making.
“She [Mira Nair] is very brave. She experiments with a lot of different styles of film-making and she is not afraid of failing. I really admire that spirit about her,” said Naseer, who worked with Nair in 2001.
So far Nair has directed Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, Mississippi Masala and Vanity Fair, among others.
While Salaam Bombay! showed the day-to-day life of street children in Mumbai, Monsoon Wedding was about a chaotic Punjabi Indian wedding.
Mira’s latest drama The Reluctant Fundamentalist is based on author Mohsin Hamid’s novel of the same name that talks about the changing scenario in post 9/11 US through a young Pakistani immigrant in the US.
Naseer, who has read the novel already, is quite confident that the film will be hard-hitting and truthful.
“It [The Reluctant Fundamentalist] will be a truthful, hard-hitting and entertaining movie,” said the 59-year-old, who was present at the premiere of The Reluctant Fundamentalist in Mumbai on Wednesday.
“I can’t quite imagine how it [the novel] has been made into a movie and that’s why I am so curious about it,” he added.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist stars Britain-based Pakistani origin actor Riz Ahmed along with Hollywood biggies Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber and Bollywood veterans Shabana Azmi and Om Puri.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2013.
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