Published on 12:18 PM, June 05, 2023

Naseeruddin Shah uses Filmfare trophies as bathroom door knobs

Photo: Collected.

In a recent interview, renowned actor Naseeruddin Shah opened up about film award lobbying and attested that he had made door knobs out of the numerous trophies he possesses. The actor, who won 3 National Film Awards for his excellent performances in "Paar", "Sparsh", and "Iqbal", feels that awards are an outcome of lobbying in the industry.

In the interview, Naseeruddin clarified the news of making door knobs out of his trophies and shared, "Any actor who has put their life and effort into portraying a role is a good actor. If you just pick one person from the lot and say that 'this is the best actor of the year', how is it fair? I am not proud of those awards. I did not even go collect the last two awards I received. So, when I built a farmhouse, I decided to put these awards there. Whoever goes to the washroom will get two awards each, as the handles are made of the Filmfare awards."

The actor added, "I don't find any value in these trophies. I was happy when I received the initial ones. But then, trophies started piling up around me. Sooner or later I understood that these awards are a result of lobbying. One is receiving these awards not necessarily because of their merit. So I started leaving them behind. After that, when I received Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, it reminded me of my deceased father who used to always be worried about my job and said things like 'if you do this useless work, you will become a fool'. So, when I went to Rashtrapati Bhavan to collect the awards, I looked up and asked my dad if he was seeing all this… He was… and I am sure he was happy… I was happy to receive those awards. But I can't stand these competitive awards."

Naseeruddin Shah last appeared in the second season of the Zee5 original web-series, "Taj: Divided by Blood".