Naseeruddin Shah Quotes

Naseeruddin Shah

Profession : Actor

Birth : July 20, 1949

In theatre, there is a unique feeling of everyone working as a team, which you never get in films.

Naseeruddin Shah

I don't take reviews seriously. I don't even read them. Who is this person blasting forth his opinion? What's his worth, and how different is he from any man on the street?

Naseeruddin Shah

I don't look at my work as an avenue for generating more work. For me, my work itself is sufficient.

Naseeruddin Shah

It would be impossible to find an actor to portray Om Puri, so I wouldn't even attempt it.

Naseeruddin Shah

No actor can give his best performance without the help of the director.

Naseeruddin Shah

It is always a pleasure to be directed by an actor because they know the scene from the actor's perspective, too. That's an advantage.

Naseeruddin Shah

Acting is fun, but directing is very stressful.

Naseeruddin Shah

If I criticize my country, it is indeed very painful for me. It doesn't make me happy. But, if I see something wrong, it becomes my duty to speak up.

Naseeruddin Shah

Nobody can send me to Pakistan. India is my country, and I love my country. Five generations of my family have lived and died on this land, and even my children will live in this country because this is my homeland.

Naseeruddin Shah

Being good or evil has nothing to do with religion.

Naseeruddin Shah

It was the '70s when mediocrity came in Hindi films. That's when the actor called Rajesh Khanna joined the industry. For all his success, I think Mr. Khanna was a very limited actor. In fact, he was a poor actor.

Naseeruddin Shah

My dream is to produce a generation of actors who realise what the function of an actor in a movie is supposed to be.

Naseeruddin Shah

I think our cinema has stayed in its adolescent stage largely because of our obsession with and our dependence upon stars to make our movies. The stars, being only too human, realise that this is the case, and so they milk it for whatever it's worth, and who can blame them?

Naseeruddin Shah

Actors have to learn that they are as important to a movie as the camera is, as important as the sound is, and less important than the script is.

Naseeruddin Shah

Acting is learnt, not taught.

Naseeruddin Shah

When I first dreamt of becoming a movie star, I wanted to be a Gary Cooper: I wanted to be rich and famous, living in palaces and wearing dark glasses and white suits.

Naseeruddin Shah

The ballooning budgets of Bollywood are getting out of hand, and it's important for people to realise that you don't need Rs 20 crore to make a good, commercially viable film.

Naseeruddin Shah

There's so much hocus-pocus about acting styles; there's too much mysticism attached to it. But it's a craft like any other - it's something you have to work hard at.

Naseeruddin Shah

There was a time when I only wanted to show off, but as I've grown older, I've realised that acting isn't an end in itself. You act to communicate something, and if you have to use an accent or become thin or fat, that's part of your job.

Naseeruddin Shah

My relationship with my father still troubles me because it never got resolved, and there was no closure. There was a lot of bitterness, but having written about it, I found that I was able to overcome that bitterness and look at the relationship anew.

Naseeruddin Shah