Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, who has delivered many powerful performances in his more than four-decade-long career, feels that he has not played enough negative roles. The actor went on to say that he finds negative characters more interesting than the white-shaded ones.
“The negative roles are a bit more interesting than those (of) good guys. My own favourite performances (from my films) are the filthy gangster of ‘Bombay Boys’ and the heartless subedar of ‘Mirch Masala’.
“I do not think I have played enough of them, I am looking for more. I have been cast much in man-fighting-for good-cause type of characters, and now I want to murder people and serve them on the platter!” Shah said on the sidelines of the 19th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival here.
The actor said his ambition as an artiste has evolved overtime and from now on he wants to be a part of those projects that are remembered by the masses.
“With time the hunger has changed… Earlier there was hunger to learn the art and craft of acting, then it was about getting good work, to earn money. Then it was about people loving my work.
“Now the hunger is to be associated with films that I think will be remembered by people and say something about the life that we all would agree to,” he said.
Shah was present with the cast of “The Hungry” which premiered at the festival. He plays the antagonist Tathagat Ahuja in the Bornila Chatterjee-directed movie.
Based on Shakespeare’s play ‘Titus Andronicus’, “The Hungry” is a macabre fairytale set in North India.
Talking about the influence of The Bard in India, Shah said, “I have not performed Shakespeare much on stage. I did it in school, but as a professional I have done very less of it. In India, it is very difficult to do as you don’t have enough actors who can do that in a poetic way.
“As far as Hindi cinema is concerned, they are borrowing from Shakespeare and it has been going on forever. Shakespeare was a popular writer and I don’t think he would have imagined he would be remembered so much.”
The film also stars Tisca Chopra, Neeraj Kabi, Arjun Gupta, Sayani Gupta, Antonio Aakeel and Suraj Sharma.
“The Hungry” follows the journey of a widow and a bride-to-be, who comes to her own wedding seeking revenge for the murder of her first-born son.
The film has been selected as the Oxfam Best Film onGender Equality at MAMI.
(With PTI Inputs)