Naseeruddin Shah was in the capital recently to attend the Urdu festival Jashn-e-Rekhta. After seeing the overcrowded venue, the veteran actor said, “There was a time when I was doing plays in the NSD (National School of Drama), and nobody would come to watch. Aaj behad khushi ho rahi hai. Kaash main aaj natak kar raha hota. Bahut khushi hoti hai Dilli wapis aa ke.”

At the fest, Shah spoke about writing a letter to Gulzar to cast him for Mirza Ghalib’s role. Gulzar was casting Sanjeev Kumar for the role but Shah said he couldn’t imagine him as Ghalib. He said, “Main jab film institute mein padh raha tha toh mere ek dost ne bataya ki Gulzar sahab Mirza Ghalib pe film bana rahe hain aur Sanjeev Kumar ko usmein lena chah rahe hain; toh mujhe bada gussa aaya. Sanjeev sahab bahut achhe actor thay, unhone bahut behtareen kirdar kiye hain aur unka loha har koi manta hai. Lekin Ghalib...”

He somehow found out Gulzar’s address and wrote a letter to him, which said, “Aap bahut badi galti kar rahe hain. Main woh actor hoon jiski aap ko talash hai.”

Years went by and Shah started working in films. Even though he met Gulzar several times, he never mentioned the letter. After 12 years, one day Gulzar called him to ask if he would like to do the role of Ghalib in a serial. He shared, “Mujhe laga ki phone mere haath se gir jayega...yeh mera khwaab kaise sach ho gaya.”

He said Gulzar chose him even when many people were against it, and years later, when he brought up the letter discussion, Gulzar told him that he never received his letter.

Shah shared with the audience that the role introduced him to Urdu poetry. “It introduced me to profundity of Urdu poetry. Before that I used to think that only Wordsworth, Keats and Robert Browning are poets and only Shakespeare is dramatist. Ghalib sahab ko padh kar main dang reh gaya. Urdu se mera ishq wahan se shuru hua,” he added.

When asked if he would take up the role of Ghalib again, Shah said, “Agar main woh role dubara kar sakta toh mere khayal se usse behtar kar sakta. Uss waqt meri samajh limited thi. Shayari ke baare mein bhi; sher kis tarah bola jata hai iski bhi samajh nahi thi. Yeh criticism hui meri performance mein ki isko sher padhne nahi aate. Maine ye (feedback) sar ankhon pe li... Gulzar bhai isko 16mm mein shoot karna chahte thay lekin producer nahin mane, aur aaj aap dekhenge ki uski quality bahut buri tarah ghat gayi.”