Birthday Special: Why Naseeruddin Shah is a class apart in Goutam Ghose’s film ‘Paar’

Looking for absolute helplessness in a face? Well, Naseeruddin Shah wears it inexplicably as he can be seen standing at a grilled window trying his best to digest the taunting of a small-time clerk. In Goutam Ghose’s Paar (The Crossing, 1984), Shah enacts Naurangia, a low-caste labourer from Bihar who gets trapped in the so-called overwhelming city of Kolkata.

10 Reasons why every Bengali loves Amitabh Bachchan

With this film, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Utpal Dutt, Om Puri, Mohan Agashe, Anil Chatterjee, and Ruma Guha Thakurta among others, Ghosh had joined the trend of 70s ruralist realism showing a fable of exploitation in rural Bihar.
‘Paar’ earned Naseeruddin the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival for his realistic portrayal of a working-class member from rural Bihar, who is forced to take shelter in Kolkata along with his pregnant wife, after their village gets wrecked by tyrant zamindars.

Jobs are hard to find in Kolkata, the clerk makes it clear acerbically, especially nothing for the literates, and certainly not for a village idiot who tumbles in with his bundle dreaming the city will give him a warm welcome. The mills and factories are shutting down one after another. How can Naurangia come with a pregnant wife as well? Plus, without any money to even buy a ticket to return to his village? So, Naurangia is more than a village idiot. However, the clerk eventually cools down, finds his heart, and gives Naurangia a little money. Swallowing any kind of dignity that his wretchedness can allow, Naurangia accepts it which can buy the famished couple only a measly breakfast.

Subtly yet heartbreakingly essayed out, neither of these particular moments you would find in Samaresh Basu’s short story ‘Paari’ (Journey), by which Ghose’s National Award-winning screenplay is inspired. Taking mere suggestions from the literature, Ghose builds a context for Naurangia and Rama to move on and leave their village and tactfully establishes the plot on how and why they have become marooned.
Ghose’s scenario, music, photography, and direction turn ‘Paar’ into a visceral experience like any other, and in their ninth film together, Azmi and Shah are as aptly matched as they were seen when the jodi had played an uptown couple in Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Masoom’ only the year before.

‘Paar’ proves why Naseeruddin Shah an acting icon, is impossible to imitate. He never possessed the glamorous looks of Dev Anand or Shashi Kapoor. Neither did he ever run for the stardom enjoyed by Rajesh Khanna or Amitabh Bachchan. But he has his elite class of critical acclaim and respect for his outstanding performances, which no other actor of his times or the present, enjoys.

A classic example of a method actor, Naseeruddin Shah has managed to transcend barriers of the Stanislavsky school of acting and proved his credentials by essaying all types of characters on the big screen — be it intense, comic, romantic, or action.