'Now, I don't take myself seriously'

Piali Banerjee / TNN / Mar 23, 2006, 20:18 IST

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This after Naseer discovered that his sons take Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty's movies more seriously than his!

This after Naseer discovered that his sons take Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty's movies more seriously than his!
Nagesh Kukunoor wants Naseeruddin Shah to do a walk-on part in his new film. Naseer, in his new-found frame of mind, is not affronted.
"I'll do it, of course," he says. "It's a pleasure to hang around Nagesh's sets. That's the best reason to do a film, that I can find today."
There's another reason to do a film too.To help other actors shed their image. "I am excited by Saif 's role in Being Cyrus.

It has always been a secret desire to be part of projects where popular actors shed their baggage. It's nice to try and help them out in the process as well.
And Saif gets to shed his baggage in this film, where he plays an out-and-out b#**#*d. That was the reason I did Sarfarosh too.
I thought Aamir Khan would shed his baggage in the film. Unfortunately, my plan failed there, Aamir couldn't really shed his image."
So, what's with the new Naseer, who only wants to do films for off-beat reasons? "When you approach work this way you have fewer regrets," he says.

"Finally, an actor's role is very finite in a film. You're dependent on a million other inputs, and yet you are the only visible flaw when things go wrong. I know that most actors are lazy, but I've seen industrious actors also being destroyed by this whole process of filmmaking."
Isn't that simply a defence mechanism for a saturated actor? "No," he replies. "It's all about friendship, and having fun. You work in projects for your friends, in return they too agree to do walk-on parts in yours."
Evidently, his directorial venture, Yun Hota To Kya Hota, has many of his friends walking in and out, in various small roles.
Did a lot of big stars refuse to work in Naseeruddin Shah's directorial debut? "Well, they politely told me that they would love to work with me and then asked for a crore which is half my film's budget!" he says with a guffaw.
"Big stars wallowing in their own success can't see themselves as ordinary beings. They take their images, and themselves ever so seriously," Naseer says.
There is evidence to show that Naseer takes himself very seriously too. "I must admit that I did that at one time, but I don't any longer," he says.
"I stopped taking myself seriously ever since my sons started watching films. They never took me seriously, they always preferred Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty to me. That's when I started looking at my work through their eyes.
And I must say that post that analysis, I found myself quite amusing."
hyderabadtimes@indiatimes.com

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