CELEBERITY BIOGRAPHY: Naseeruddin Shah The versatile actor will now be seen in his seriously comic avatar in the movie ‘Chaalis Chauraasi’.

After his lusty image in Ekta Kapoor’s ‘The Dirty Picture’, the versatile actor Naseerudin Shah will now be seen in his seriously comic avatar in Hriday Shetty’s directorial movie ‘Chaalis Chauraasi’. According to genre of the movie, the first look poster does impress the viewers and looks interesting on the whole. It as well has a very catchy tag line, which is been written as ‘One night….One hell of a ride’. Hriday Shetty’s directorial and Naseerudin Shah starrer movie ‘Chaalis Chauraasi’ is currently scheduled to release it on January 13, 2012.

NASEERUDDIN SHAH as MIRZA GHALIB

Naseeruddin Shah , born 20 July 1950) is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.

He is a descendant of the 19th-century Afghan warlord Jan Fishan Khan, and related to the Afghan writer Idries Shah, the famous Pakistani actor, Syed Kamal Shah , Director General of IB, Pakistan, Shah Mahboob Alam and the cricketer Owais Shah.[1] Naseeruddin Shah did his schooling at St. Anselm's Ajmer and St Joseph's College, Nainital. He graduated in arts from Aligarh Muslim University in 1971 and attended National School of Drama in Delhi.

He has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood cinema as well as in Parallel Cinema. He also appeared in many international films, most notably playing Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Shah has acted in movies such as Nishant, Aakrosh, Sparsh, Mirch Masala, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, Trikal, Bhavni Bhavai, Junoon, Mandi, Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, Ardh Satya, Katha, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, etc.[4] In the very early stages of his career he acted in a film Dil Aakhir Dil Hai directed by noted director Ismail Shroff, with Rakhi where she played the character of Naseer's elder girl friend kusumji whom he was forced to marry unwillingly because he is quite younger to her(in the film). One of his most important films Masoom (1983) was shot at St Joseph's College, Nainital.

He became active in mainstream Bollywood cinema with the 1980 film Hum Paanch. His next major success in mainstream films was the 1986 multi-starrer film Karma where he acted alongside veteran Dilip Kumar. Starring roles for films such as, Ijaazat (1987), Jalwa (1988) and Hero Hiralal (1988) followed. In 1988 he played opposite his wife Ratna Pathak as Inspector Ghote, the fictional detective of H. R. F. Keating's novels in the Merchant-Ivory English language film The Perfect Murder.

Later, he starred in international projects such as Monsoon Wedding in 2001 and a Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 (co-starring Sean Connery) where he played the role of Captain Nemo. His portrayal of Nemo was very close to the design of the graphic novel, although his Nemo was far less manic. He worked in an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Maqbool and Rajiv Rai's Asambhav in 2004. He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful. He was most recently seen in Ishqiya. Shah's upcoming films include The Hunt where he plays a recluse growing marijuana in his forest retreat.

“I guess that’s what makes life worthwhile. I want to try everything that I feel I should…grab every dream I have. My earliest dream was to be an actor. I also wanted to be a cricketer; dreamt of being a filmmaker, and always wanted to be on the stage. So I feel pretty much blessed to get the opportunity to try my hand at all these things.”

“As luck would have it, when at Class IX, my father pulled me out of my first school and put me in a school run by Indian Jesuit priests (St Anselm’s in Ajmer). There I got a group of friends and we enacted scenes from The Merchant of Venice where I played Shylock in close imitation of my all time favourite actor Geoffrey Kendal. And suddenly, my whole life changed. I was terrified for the first two seconds I was on stage…staring at black space in front of me (audience), with lights shining on my face. But as I started speaking, I could hear a bit of laughter and a bit of approval from that black space. Honestly, that was the first taste of acceptance that I had in life and realized this is the place where I belong.”

He is married to Bollywood actress Ratna Pathak Shah with whom he has two sons, Imaad and Vivaan. They have co-starred in the films like Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Mirch Masala and The Perfect Murder. He has a daughter, Heeba Shah, from his first marriage. Naseeruddin Shah married Ratna Pathak after the demise of Heeba Shah's mother.

He made his Pakistani film debut in the critically acclaimed and controversial film Khuda Ke Liye by Shoaib Mansoor where he played a short cameo.

His performance in Sarfarosh (1999) was widely acclaimed. He played the villain with dual identity of a Ghazal singer and Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India.

He was the first of several celebrity actors, who played the role of narrator in the popular audiobook series for kids Karadi Tales,. He was also the narrator in the film Paheli - the Indian entry to the 2006 Academy Awards .

He has been awarded the life membership of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy Of Film & Television.

In 1998, he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the play Mahatma Vs. Gandhi, (which looked at the Mahatma's relation with Harilal Gandhi, his first son). With this, he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma Gandhi, a role he had auditioned for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. Incidentally, in 2000, he again portrayed the Mahatma, this time on film, in Hey Ram.