Naseeruddin Shah is a veteran film and stage actor and director. He is a notable figure in the Indian entertainment industry. An alumnus of the National School of Drama, he co-founded the theatre group Motley Productions in 1977. The group debuted two years later at Prithvi Theatre performing Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting For Godot. Shah has also directed plays written by George Bernard Shaw, Ismat Chughtai and Saadat Hasan Manto.

Naseeruddin Shah is active in mainstream and parallel Hindi cinema and has won national awards for his work in Sparsh, Paar and Iqbal. At the 1984 Venice Film Festival, Shah won the Volpi Cup (Award for Best Actor) for Paar. He is also the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award (2000), the Padma Shri (1987) and the Padma Bhushan (2003).