Naseeruddin Shah: ‘Masoom introduced me to four generations of children’

Forty years later, acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur’s directorial debut Masoom is still considered one of the most remarkable films in Indian cinema. Luminous performances by legendary actors Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, alongside Tanuja, Supriya Pathak and Saeed Jaffrey, and melodious songs made the 1983 film a memorable family drama. Reminiscing about it, Naseeruddin recently said that he was “lucky to be in that film”. 

Also featuring Jugal Hansraj, Aradhana and Urmila Matondkar as child actors, the story of Masoom was inspired by Erich Segal’s 1980 novel Man, Woman and Child. Gulzar had penned the movie’s screenplay, dialogues and lyrics, while the music was composed by RD Burman.

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Speaking during an interview with Film Companion recently, when Naseeruddin was asked to pick two movies from his illustrious filmography that he would like today’s kids to watch, he named Paar - the 1984 Goutam Ghose-directed film, where he starred alongside Shabana Azmi and Om Puri - and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983), a satirical black comedy film helmed by Kundan Shah, featuring an ensemble cast that included Ravi Baswani, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah, Satish Kaushik, Bhakti Barve, Neena Gupta and Naseeruddin. That said, he also also admitted that it was Masoom that “introduced me to four generations of children”.  

The legendary actor said, “I’d like them to see Paar and, I suppose, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. The others, I am certain, they’ll see on their own anyway. Masoom, everybody has seen it. It has introduced me to four generations of children. They all sing Lakdi Ki Kathi till today. It was shot 45 years ago. So, I am not concerned about that. That they’re going to see anyway. I was lucky to be in that film.” 

Recently, Shekhar had revealed plans to make a sequel to the cult classic. Likely to be titled Masoom… The New Generation, the plot and other details about the upcoming film are yet to be revealed.

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