Naseeruddin Shah ‘twed’ Manoj Pahwa’s ear to make him join theatre, actor recalls being upset despite money, cars, houses: ‘Bakwaas mat karo’ | Bollywood News

Actor couple Manoj Pahwa and Seema Pahwa‘s children are married to Pankaj Kapur and Supriya Pathak Shah’s (Shah’s ser-in-law) kids. Besides having family bonds, Manoj and Naseeruddin also have strong roots of acclaimed theatre circles. In fact, it was the Masoom actor’s recommendation that helped Pahwa get better work opportunities through theatre. In a recent interview, he opened up about Shah twing his ear to give a nod.
Joining Kunal Vijayakar during an episode of Khaane Mein Kya Hai, Manoj shared, “I was also in a situation when I started getting bored of doing the same thing since years. I discussed this with Naseer sahab, when we did a film together – Being Cyrus. He met me at a party and asked about how everything was going, I told him it has been great – I have many cars, flats, and earning a lot of money, but I am not enjoying it.”
The actor revealed that while he chose to sleep on it, the veteran actor sent a script at his house the very next day. “He said that you won’t have fun now. It will happen very less that you’ll get roles that you will enjoy. Hence, my advice is that you should do theatre. Atleast, you will stay fresh as an actor and can even keep taking out your outburst. You are in a situation where you feel like it’s been too much now, and you should maybe open a restaurant. I came home, slept, and Seema woke me up asking if I spoke to Naseer sahab about something.”
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He further added, “I told her that he was asking me to do theatre, but I have been working in the industry since 16 years, who will get on the stage now? She told me that he sent a script, it was Shatranj Ke Khilaadi, he basically had three plays under his production. He wasn’t satisfied with the actors who were already doing the play. He wanted me to play Mirza sahab, it was a short half an hour play.”
When Manoj Pahwa tried to turn down the opportunity, Naseeruddin Shah made him join theatre. “I tried to tell him that I won’t be able to do, there an issue with the dates, etc. I said that he has the luxury of telling people no, if he has his play dates, but if I tell someone that I can’t shoot because of theatre, I will be replaced. But, he didn’t leave me and said, ‘Itni bhi kharaab position nahi hai tumhaari. Bakwaas mat karo (you aren’t in such a low position, don’t talk rubbish)’,” he said.
“Unhone mujhe chorra nahi, mera kaan marod ke mujhse theatre karvaaya (he twed my ear and made me do theatre). That was a relief, it helped me a lot. I started getting better roles, including, Dedh Ishqiya with Vishal Bharadwaj, and even Mulk,” he concluded.