When Naseeruddin Shah called Bollywood ‘masters of stereotyping’

Naseeruddin Shah is one of those veteran actors who has never shied away from speaking his mind, and does not even mince words when it comes to criticisms against his own industry. The actor, who has been a part of Bollywood for more than four decades, at one point has even called it out for incessant stereotyping.

In a video shared by a social media user, taken at an event that Naseeruddin and his wife Ratna Pathak Shah attended last year, the actor is heard expressing his displeasure at the way Hindi films had a tendency to make fun of many communities. Naseeruddin spoke of how it seemed to be a national custom of the industry to make fun of other people’s miseries, while at the same time they did not know how to laugh at themselves. “The Hindi film industry is a master when it comes to stereotyping”, he siad.

The actor went on to talk about how the industry spared no time in making fun of others, but became hurt whenever they themselves were made fun of. This was something encouraged in films consistently and deliberately. The industry was over a century old, and the tradition continued from that time as well.

Ratna also concurred with Naseeruddin, mentioning how physical attributes were also used to create crude humour in films as well. She went on to give examples of how fat, thin and drunk people were stereotyped in the industry for humour’s sake as well.

Naseeruddin was last seen in the Aasmaan Bhardwaj directorial Kuttey, which saw him share the screen with Tabu, Arjun Kapoor, Radhika Madan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kumud Mishra and Shardul Bhardwaj. The film hit theatres on Januray 13. The actor will next be seen in the ZEE5 series, Taj-Divided By Blood.

Ratna was last seen in the Netflix show, Trial By Fire, and will be a part of Tarun Dudeja’s Dhak Dhak, which also stars Dia Mirza, Sanjana Sanghi and Fatima Sana Shaikh.