D O B July 20,1950
Languages Hindi
Place of Birth Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh
Known For Actor, Singer
Married Yes

Biography Naseeruddin Shah born July is an Indian film actor and director He is considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema In the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema Born in Barabanki Uttar Pradesh India he is a descendant of the th-century Afghan warlord Jan Fishan Khan and related to the Afghan writer Idries Shah the famous Pakistani actor Syed Kamal Shah Director General of IB Pakistan Shah Mahboob Alam and the cricketer Owais Shah Naseeruddin Shah did his schooling at St Anselm's Ajmer and St Joseph's College Nainital He graduated in arts from Aligarh Muslim University in and attended National School of Drama in Delhi He has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood cinema as well as in Parallel Cinema He also appeared in many international films most notably playing Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen His elder brother Lt General Zameeruddin Shah PVSM SM VSM also an alumnus of St Joseph's Nainital retired from the Indian Army in early as Deputy Chief of Army Staff Planning and Systems and formerly commanded Dimapur based Corps He also served as Director More Indian Defence Attache to Saudi Arabia from Feb -April Shah has acted in movies such as Nishant Aakrosh Sparsh Mirch Masala Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai Trikal Bhavni Bhavai Junoon Mandi Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho Ardh Satya Katha etc In the very early stages of his career he made a film with Rakhi where she played the character of kusumji whom he was forced to marry unwillingly in the film One of his most important films Masoom was shot at St Joseph's College Nainital He became active in mainstream Bollywood cinema with the film Hum Paanch His next major success in mainstream films was the multi-starrer film Karma where he acted alongside veteran Dilip Kumar Starring roles for films such as Ijaazat Jalwa and Hero Hiralal followed In he played opposite his wife Ratna Pathak as Inspector Ghote the fictional detective of H R F Keating's novels in the Merchant-Ivory English language film The Perfect Murder He has acted in several multi-starrer Bollywood films as well such as Ghulami Tridev and Vishwatma In he acted as the villain in Mohra his th film as an actor He strongly believed that the distinction between art and commercial films had largely reduced especially with the directors of the former also making commercial films In his dream of playing Mahatma Gandhi was realized when he played Gandhi in Kamal Hassan's critically acclaimed Hey Ram which focused on the assassination of Gandhi from the assailant's point of view He won a lot of critical acclaim by acting as Mohit the drunken coach to a deaf and mute boy in Iqbal film which was brilliantly written by Vipul K Rawal keeping specially him in mind He also worked in a critically acclaimed film A Wednesday Later he starred in international projects such as Monsoon Wedding in and a Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in co-starring Sean Connery where he played the role of Captain Nemo His portrayal of Nemo was very close to the design of the graphic novel although his Nemo was far less manic br He worked in an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth titled Maqbool in He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful He was most recently seen in Ishqiya Shah's upcoming films include The Hunt film where he plays a recluse growing marijuana in his forest retreat He also made his Pakistani film debut in the critically-acclaimed and controversial film Khuda Ke Liye by Shoaib Mansoor where he played a short cameo In he along with Tom Alter and Benjamin Gilani formed a theatre group called Motley Productions Their first play was Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot which was staged at Prithvi Theatre on July In he acted in the eponymous television series based on the life and times of Mirza Ghalib directed by Gulzar and telecast on DD National In he acted as the Maratha King Shivaji in another eponymous television series Bharat Ek Khoj based on Jawaharlal Nehru's book The Discovery of India directed by noted film director Shyam Benegal The role of Aurangzeb was performed by Om Puri The story of Shivaji was spread over two episodes In he acted as a special agent in a TV Series Tarkash coming in Zee TV He played the role of a retired agent haunted by nightmares who is re-inducted as he apparently knows something about a dreaded terrorist somehow connected with his past In he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the play Mahatma Vs Gandhi which looked at the Mahatma's relation with Harilal Gandhi his first son With this he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma Gandhi a role he had auditioned for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi Incidentally in he again portrayed the Mahatma this time on film in Hey Ram His performance in Sarfarosh was widely acclaimed He played the villain with dual identity of a Ghazal singer and Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India He was widely appreciated in his role of Mohit a drunken coach in the critically acclaimed film Iqbal The role was specially written keeping him in mind by Vipul K Rawal the writer of Iqbal The role got him rave reviews He was the first of several celebrity actors who played the role of narrator in the popular audiobook series for kids Karadi Tales br br He was also the narrator in the film Paheli - the Indian entry to the Academy Awards He has been awarded the life membership of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy Of Film Television Naseeruddin Shah has been giving performances with his theatre troupe at places such as New Delhi Mumbai Bangalore and Lahore He has directed plays written by lavender kumar Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto His directorial debut in movie Yun Hota To Kya Hota was released in The movie stars several established actors such as Konkona Sen Sharma Paresh Rawal Irfan Khan and newcomer Ayesha Takia and his son Imaad Shah He is married to Bollywood actress Ratna Pathak Shah They have a daughter Heebaa and two sons Imaad and Irhaan They have co-starred in the films like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na Mirch Masala and The Perfect Murder Naseeruddin Shah was earlier married to Surekha Sikri's sister who was a doctor working in Iran Her name probably was Manara Sikri unconfirmed Huma Shah is Mr Shah's daughter from the earlier marriage She is not the daughter of Ratna Pathak Shah Naseeruddin Shah married Ratna Pathak after the demise of Huma Shah's mother