Naseer to be honoured at US film fest

Naseeruddin Shah will be honoured in Los Angeles on Apil 21, by the International Indian Film Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA), in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to Indian cinema".

Shah retrospective

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar will also be conferred with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The IFFLA, to be held at the landmark Arclight Hollywood venue, is hosting the US premiere of the Naseeeruddin Shah-Sarika-starrer, Parzania, which has the Godhra riots as a backdrop.

Along with Naseer's award-winning films, Monsoon Wedding and Manthan.
"When you are conferred with such prestigious lifetime honours, you begin to worry and wonder whether its a subtle cue that its time to hang up the acting boots!

Jokes apart, I was not aware, that besides the Oscar Awards, Los Angeles hosted an annual Indian Film Festival with such fanfare. It is definitely a unique morale booster, even as my film Parzania gets the international media attention that it deserves," discloses Shah.

'Parzania unbiased'

Parzania is said to a one-sided view of the riots. "That's a biased opinion because Parzania is inspired by a real-life account of a missing child during the Godhra riots. It is very neutral and highlights the agony of innocent victims, like the Parsi couple played by Sarika and me," insists Naseer.

But was Naseer happy with the choice of movies being shown for his retrospective?

"Honestly, I wish they had included some of my noteworthy films, like Sparsh, Nishant, Masoom and Bhavni Bhavai. But there were some genuine problems in procuring those prints.

The retrosp-ective should ideally include a milestone movie each from at least three different phases of my career. And at least one of them should not be of the depressing genre," chuckles Shah.