Nasiruddin Shah – the natural actor of bollywood.
Whenever quality directors have thought about experimenting with any character Nasiruddin Shah’s name automatically came in their mind. He is one of the most dynamic actors ever to grace bollywood films. In Akrosh, he played the role of defense counsel of Om Puri who faced Amrish Puri, the Public Prosecutor, in a realistic murder trial which was related to Om Puri’s alleged killing of his wife Smita Patil. He saw how the evidences are tampered in cases where the influencial industrialists dominate the proceedings. Amrish Puri was his senior in the film, and he confessed before him that with that much of dominance of the lawbreakers it is impossible to prove that Om Puri was innocent.
Nasir was brilliant in the film Masoom, opposite Shabana Azmi, where he tried to persuade his second wife to accept his son born out of his previous wedlock. He showed his love for his son jugal Hansraj, who had nobody else in the world. He gave brilliant lips in the song “huzur is kadar” sung by Bhupinder Singh and Suresh Watkar.
While doing extremely well in art films, he made major contribution in main stream cinema with his acting in the films Tridev with Sunny Deol and Jackie Shroff and Viswatma with Sunny Deol and Chunkey Pandey. In both these films he raised his voice against the evil practices conducted by Amrish Puri and other villains. He could act in any type of role and directors even gave him the role of a villain in the film Mohra, opposite Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Ravina Tandon. He pretended to be blind, and took revenge against his contenders in the market by employing Sunil Shetty to kill them.
He also had provided life-time performance in the film China-gate, where he played the role of a retired military officer who was called by Om Puri, the Major, to face the dacoits in that area who became unmanageable. He shed his life for the welfare of the village after putting a brave fight at the battlefront.
Nasir also had very impressive comedy impulse which he displayed in the films Jane bhi do Yaaron, Hero hiralal, Albert Pintu ko gussa kyon ata hai, Katha, etc. In katha, he played the role of an innocent middleclass worker who stayed in the same apartment complex where Dipti Naval had stayed and helped his friend Farooq Sheikh who was involved in fraudulent activities. Viewers were amazed with his trend-breaking performance which showed the submissiveness, innocence, and shyness of a average middle-class Indian. With more than 100 films to be referred, one small article cannot highlight the greatness of Nasir, but Indian film industry still requires the dynamic performance of the living legend in the years to come.
