Naseeruddin Shah on ‘Sparsh’: “The credit for making Anirudh credible goes to Sai Paranjpye” – Exclusive |

Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi’s ‘Sparsh’ completed 45 years. Almost half a century has passed since the release and yet every character and every dialogue of the movie is etched beautifully in the hearts of cinephiles. In fact, the lead stars also keep the movie very close to their heart. Thus, when we interacted with Naseeruddin Shah to celebrate the 45 years of the movie, he said “I am very proud of that performance.”
“It came just before Aakrosh. I went without a day’s break from ‘Sparsh’ to ‘Aakrosh.’ Two completely different worlds. After playing the blind man I had to guard against blinking my eyes on the sets of ‘Aakrosh,’ he added.
Naseeruddin’s character as a visually impaired man helped him garner a lot of love and recognition. He was honored with the National Award for his work. Many even said that his work was at a par with Al Pacino in ‘Scent Of A Woman.’ Reacting to it, Naseeruddin shared, “I can’t think of too many blind characters in our films that have been done with finesse. The credit for making Anirudh credible goes to Sai Paranjpye. The scenes she created for him were so truthful. It was very easy for me to play Anirudh. What I had to get right was the blind man’s body language. And that was something I was working on even before Sparsh. The body language of blind people always fascinated me.”
“I must say it was very kind of Sai Paranjpye to trust me with a central part at that early stage of my career. I believe Mr Sanjeev Kumar was the first choice for ‘Sparsh.’ For some reason, he chose not to play the part and it simply fell into my lap. I was thrilled because it was an author-backed role. Sai had a lot of faith in me. When I read the script I didn’t feel there was the need to change a single thing in the script. I rate Masoom and Sparsh as my best performances,” shared the iconic star expressing his gratitude.
Further, spilling tea on how he prepared for the role with such finesse, the actor shared, “I had two classmates in college who were blind. I used to observe them a lot. I needed to only understand why the blind behaved the way they did. The sheer excellence of the writing took care of the rest.”
Those who have enjoyed this cinematic gem know for a fact that Anirudh could see what those with eyes couldn’t. Shah also believes the same and thus, said, “Anirudh was a character with a great deal of pride and dignity. Usually, the blind in our cinema are portrayed as self-pitying characters. The person Mr Mittal on whom my character was based was the principal of the school we were shooting in. If you ever saw him you’ll see the most beautiful eyes on him. No one could tell he was blind. The way he walked, lit a cigarette and conducted himself was like a completely normal-sighted man. In fact, Mr Mittal’s proud self-declaration was, ‘Why do you call me disabled? I am just differently abled.’ That was the first time I heard the term ‘differently abled’ and so many years ago! Mr Mittal felt he could do anything except drive a car. He hoped there would be a car that the blind could drive.”
“Also, my grandmom was blind. I used to watch her quite closely. I didn’t do anything special to prepare for the part except to familiarize myself with the surroundings in the blind school. As for looking so blind, it was finally just an acting trick,” he quoted.
Last but not least, the actor concluded the conversation by sharing a few words of appreciation for his co-star Shabana Azmi. “Shabana has always been very supportive and a positive influence on my performance. No one writes roles for us any longer, though we did come together for a short film ‘Rice Plate’ directed by Rohit Roy,” he concluded.