Subhash K Jha (DNA; March 27, 2015)

Naseeruddin Shah is ready with the follow-up to his memoir And Then One Day. The upcoming tome will be an 'honest expose' of people in the film industry.

He confesses, "I've covered the most interesting phase of my life. The rest is smooth sailing. What I can do now, is a treatise on my experiences in the film industry. And I don't think that's a bad idea. There are many things that I do want to say about the industry. I might write it in the third-person. Then I'd have the right to be more candid without being diplomatic or hurting egos."

Naseer admits he never expected the memoir to be so well-received. "I thought they'd be extremely skeptical about an actor trying to write. I never thought the book would sell as much as it did in India, or that the Indian critics would be anything but condescending towards it," he says.

He has never doubted his writing abilities, though. "I knew that those who cared to read through my account, would like it. Constructing sentences properly and writing essays have been my strong points right from school days. Though I was a dullard in all other subjects, my English compositions and essays in class were always rated the best. My articles were selected for the school magazine. I did know I had a certain ability with words. So I knew I wouldn't get whipped by the critics."

Meenal Baghel (DNA; September 7, 2014)

Naseeruddin Shah, dressed in all black that serves to highlight his silver hair, is on the phone talking to someone about a possible engagement when he says, "But check with Vivaan first, he is the busy guy."

His younger son is set to appear in a film, Happy New Year, with Shah Rukh Khan later this year. It's the kind of film that Naseer has had an ambiguous relationship with for most of his life. While he admired the antics of Shammi Kapoor, Dara Singh or the dreamy intensity of Dilip Kumar as a young audience, when he got his own chance to fill up the 70 mm with larger-than-life turns, he flubbed miserably.

Instead, he built his reputation arguably as India's finest modern-day male actor on a series of nuanced and lifelike performances in what were then called art films. The wide acclaim he got for these kept him in demand in the commercial movies, creating, ironically, its own domino effect of disdain. A certain director once reminded him testily during shoot: "Naseerji, this is not an art film, here you have to ACT!"

He recounts this incident in his memoir, And Then One Day... which arrives in the bookstores this Wednesday. It is a charming account, written in elegant prose (all his own) and full of dry, self deprecating wit that first caught writer-historian Ramchandra Guha's eye. The two men, bound by their love for cricket, have been friends for the last six-seven years but it was in 2012, at the instance of Naseer's wife Ratna, that the actor sent Guha ninety-nine pages of the memoir, wondering if there was any merit in it. "I was struck by the quality of the prose, the self-deprecating humour, so unusual for Indians, especially the famous ones, and the description of the declining feudal family," says Ram Guha, speaking in rapid-fire gusts over the telephone. "I did not expect it to be so subtle in its understanding of the social dynamics of the time."

With Guha's encouragement, Naseer who had begun writing in 2002 while idling on the set of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (he'd accepted the role so he could meet another of his swashbuckling heroes, Sean Connery) ploughed on with the rest of it.

If writing, like a piece of acting, is also performance then he brings to it his characteristic restraint. "A desire to economise," he says. "Otherwise it's vulgar."

"I did here, what I always tell the young actors I work with: focus only on the essentials."

The result is a slim volume which ends somewhat tantalizingly at the point where his daughter from his first marriage, Heeba, has just been reunited with him after 12 years, and his career highs are off-set by self-doubt about his growth as an actor. (Underscored here by a marvellous account of a workshop he did with the famed theatre guru, Jerzy Grotowski, in Poland).

Those looking for salacious affairs or sensational disclosures about fellow actors might be disappointed. He manages the rather delicate feat of candidly discussing psychotropic substances and his relationships with various women, including a failed marriage, without turning the reader into a voyeur.

Naseer, who is not a big fan of actors' autobiographies - "So full of shit...The biggest letdown was Brando's - says he knew beforehand the book would largely focus on his development as an actor. "I think it (the book) might mean something to young actors. Other than them if anyone is interested in it, great..." he shrugs half smiling.

There are two strands that run through the book - his education as an actor, and in that he was fortunate to have seen at close hand and worked with Geoffrey Kendal, Alkazi, Satyadev Dubey and studied at the FTII, Pune, when it was still an institution serious about cinema. There were people he encountered at the Aligarh Muslim University who exposed him early on to the texts of Eugene Ionesco, Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett and Anton Chekov.

What shines through the ups and downs of his eventful life is the mad passion he has for his chosen vocation - running away from home at 16 to Bombay in the hope of becoming a hero only to be rescued by Dilip Kumar's sister - and the self-awareness he later displays as he makes career and life choices.

Running parallel to this is a narrative of the fading gentrified world of his parents - his father was the administrator of the dargah of Saleem Chishtie at Ajmer, while his uncles from his mother's side were colourful characters, each who might have enjoyed a pride of place in the Muslim socials of the '50s.

At certain points the two strands coalesce insightfully. While writing about his father's Kodak Brownie box camera he passes on to the reader the most useful piece of acting advice given to him by Shyam Benegal who told him as he faced the camera for his first film, Nishant: the camera is the eye of everyone watching the film. You have to respond to that.

"Today's generation, whose every sound and action is recorded from the time of their birth, and for whom the camera is part of the family, will find it hard to understand how just being photographed was such a big deal for us," he writes.

The selfie generation's ease with the camera, says Naseer, is already creating a "paradigm shift in acting" going on to name Irrfan, Manoj Bajpayee, Kay Kay Menon, Nawazuddin and Arshad Warsi as fine examples.

But the centerpiece of the book is his complex and unresolved relationship with his father who never could understand his son's desire to become an actor or appreciate his talents. In a telling anecdote, Naseer who did not do well academically in school tries to repair his deteriorating relationship with his father by writing him a long letter from hostel about watching the film adaptation of the Old Man and the Sea only to be snubbed with a curt reply asking him to "concentrate on studies."

This memoir, dedicated to his sons Imaad and Vivaan who also act, is like a continuation of that letter he wrote to his father - still trying to convey his love for acting, and his wonder at the world of make believe.

Rachana Dubey (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 6, 2014)

After four years, Naseeruddin Shah’s autobiography is finally complete. Titled And Then One Day…, the memoir will be released in September to celebrate the veteran actor’s 40-year-run in the film industry.  

“It wasn’t easy to put it together. Without hurting anyone’s sentiments, I’ve documented almost everything I had to say about myself,” says the actor, who reconnected with relatives he hadn’t spoken to in years and is happy with the final draft. There are some rare pictures which encapsulate the first 32 years of his life. “I dug out pictures of my brothers, uncles, aunts, cousins, extended family, people who influenced me through school, college and at the FTII, friends, well-wishers and professional associates,” he says triumphantly.

Running into nearly 1,00,000 words, and spread over approximately 400 pages, the book ends with him and Ratna Pathak, his wife of three decades tying the knot. It talks about his first marriage, daughter Heeba, his professional ups and downs and details about how he wooed and wed Ratna.

The rest of his life will be recounted in the second part of the memoir which is already underway. “I don’t know when that will release,” admits Naseer, who will be in London for most of this month for a play. “I hope people find the book interesting. I have made it as honest as possible.”

Subhash K Jha (DNA; February 7, 2014)

India’s most accomplished actor is ready with his autobiography. What surprises us is that the Naseeruddin Shah’s story was kept under wraps for nearly four years as the actor-extraordinaire diligently penned down his thoughts and observations. Confirming the publication of his autobiography Naseer says, “Yes, I’ve written my autobiography .I haven’t spoken about it to anyone. I wanted to complete before talking about it.”

As one eagerly awaits the opus, Naseer reveals that it covers the first 32 years of his life. “That’s as far as I’d like to take my life in the autobiography without the narration getting too lengthy to hold my readers. Insha Allah, there will be a second volume covering the second part of my life.” Naseer’s autobiography is expected to be out this year. Says the actor, “This year I complete 40 years of acting. So it seemed like the right time to talk about the first-half of my life. I’ve tried to be as honest in my book as possible. I’ve told the truth about my life without hurting the dignity of those whom I came in contact with.”

The title of the autobiography is still to be decided.