National treasure Naseeruddin Shah turns 76 this year, his 51st in film and a particular rich one with his cathartic turn in Main Vapas Aunga and his uncanny channeling of the towering six-footer JRD Tata in the Titan web series. In celebration, here is a list of the most memorable songs filmed on him. The song is Hindi film’s most influential real estate, and for a performer who has consistently been called an actor rather than a star, it comes as a surprise to see how many beloved, even if unusual, Hindi film songs he is at the heart of. But perhaps, it should not be a surprise –when you have 281 listed actor credits on IMDb and have been called iconic for at least three decades, you would gather a rich song catalogue
Hoshwalon ko khabar kya | Sarfarosh (spoilers ahead) This was the first time I noticed him, his villainy piercing ice into my heart in a too-cold 1990s air-conditioned theatre. What a gorgeous ghazal by Jagjit Singh, and so appropriate for Naseer’s distinguished elder look
Huzoor Iss Kadar | Masoom (1983)
Another ghazal, very different in mood: the joyous ghazal from Masoom where Naseer and Saeed Jaffrey’s energetic clowning around makes me smile every time I watch it
‘Tujhse Naraaz Nahin Zindagi’ | Masoom (1983)
To me, the most unusual, poetic song to be such a resounding cult favourite. The awkward relationship between a hesitant father and a lonely son. And how movingly he articulates the distance between himself and the boy child
‘Chhoti Si Kahaani Sey’ | Ijazat (1987)
To me, the unlikeliest Hindi film pair: the glamorous Rekha whom the most oversized glasses cannot dim, and the solemn, slightly wild-looking Naseer
‘Mera Kuchh Saamaan’ | Ijazat (1987)
The most romantic song on the Hindi film screen is shot on an uncharacteristically glum-looking Naseer in the all-time great: Mera kuchh saamaan. As I wrote earlier, I was surprised to see just how many romances Naseer has done (so superbly too)
‘Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji’ | Ishqiya (2010)
23 years after the intense wistfulness of Ijazat, a hennaed yet surprisingly leonine Naseer aged about 60 in the sublime Vishal Bhardwaj composition and muslin voice of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Sheepish, beady-eyed Naseer, delighted to be stranded on a bus full of charming women
‘Sili Hawa Chhoo Gayi’ | Libaas (unreleased)
Libaas has never released in India, to the best of my knowledge. And the snatch of Sili Hawa Chho Gayi on Youtube features Shabana and Raj Babbar. But in the film that plays in my mind, I see Naseer and Shabana. Moustachioed, romantic, shy Naseer. Like in the still photo here
‘Piya Baaj Pyala Piya Jaaye Na’ | Nishant (1975)
A thin, tremulous Naseer with an enormous mop of curls in his debut Nishant, and a poised one-film old Shabana. The ghazal Piya Baaj Pyala Jiya Jaaye Naa is written by Quli Qutb Shah, the 16th century founder of Hyderabad. Stunning cinematic use of a ghazal to convey the extent of devastation. Decades before Dhurandhar, the juxtaposition of an intensely romantic song with violence on screen
‘Oye Oye’ | Tridev (1989)
A (somewhat abrupt) shift in mood from the sublime to the gloriously campy (but how else does one cover his vast filmography without jumps): Tridev is where he says he danced for the first time, look at the glee in his gaze and the military moustache!
‘Ooh Laa Laa’ | The Dirty Picture (2011)
As much as it stereotypes the “South” film, it’s hard not to be taken by Naseer and Vidya Balan’s obvious relish of their in-your-face sleaziness. Magnificent!
‘Aaja Nachle’ | Monsoon Wedding (2001)
My enduring memory of Monsoon Wedding is Lilette Dubey throwing back her head and laughing, and Naseer fanning out the baby pink tail of his pugree. As if he was laying out the pink carpet of welcome for the generation of Tilottama Shome, Vijay Raaz, Rajat Kapoor and a crop of actors we would grow to love over the next decades
‘Aaj Mera Jee Karda’ | Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Another memory from Monsoon Wedding: I get up to leave when the words “for my family” appear on screen after the tropical downpour and cathartic release that is ‘Aaje Nachle’. A satisfying finish. And Sukhwinder’s implausibly, wondrously high voice stops me. The credits have started to roll, intercut with scenes from the wedding ceremony itself. Every one is quiet and introspective now, after the exhaustion of the celebrations–a bit like us, after the emotional roller-coaster of the film. Names rolling on screen, then glimpses from the ceremony. Magnificent Sukhwinder. I think every one in the audience stayed rooted to where they were. Our feet refused to move