Naseeruddin Shah hospitalised, “recovering and will be discharged soon” son Vivaan Shah

Naseeruddin Shah, wife Ratna Pathak with son Vivaan Shah

The Hindi film industry is on an ailment trail, like the entire nation. Vocal film actor, director Naseeruddin Shah had just toed it, for a milder reason though, and just two days ago.

The ace actor was hospitalised following “a patch on his lungs” and ongoing pneumonia that he developed two days ago.

He is under medical observation and is responding well to the treatment, Shah’s wife Ratna Pathak confirmed to close family sources. His son Vivaan Shah, whom we have seen in several plays and films like Farah Khan’s Happy New Year confirmed to me over whatsapp. “Thank You. He’s recovering and would be discharged soon”.

Shah has been taking immense stress over the past few years. He spoke to me for the first time about the Hindi film industry going through rough times of political intervention and pro-Centre lobbies in 2018. He had told me then, “The polarisation was always there but it was under wraps. Now it has come up and smelling badly.”

He was at the Siri Fort Auditorium for a musical Daastan ‘Ghalib, Umrao ki nazar se”, which he had attended for the love of late Ustad Iqbal Ahmad Khan, the last khalifa of the Dilli Gharana of Hindustani classical music. It was the first ever long Daastan on Ghalib’s wife, musically narrated by Khan’s daughter Vusat Iqbal Khan with nearly all members of the Dilli Gharana and disciples performing on one stage.

After that he kept quiet for some time. However, he has again been appearing in few interviews venting out his pain, angst, restlessness and duality of the political heads of the nation in treating the creative fraternity in a divisive manner. He looks stressful and furious and unwell. For an actor like him who has been working in several issue-based films and been often vocal about the ailments of the society including the filmdom, this vent is, but natural.

Post covid and current political upheavals including the newest changes proposed in the censorship laws by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, has added insult to the injury. Though pneumonia is an immunity-related disease, however, all the medics in the world say, stress is the first and foremost root cause of most of the ailments. One cannot ignore the stress that today’s political system has brought in the creative world too.

TNB wishes Naseeruddin Shah sahib a speedy recovery.