For most people, National award-winning actor Naseeruddin Shah has always looked completely at ease on screen. Whether it was Masoom, Sparsh, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro or A Wednesday!, his performances carried a quiet confidence that made acting seem effortless. But the man behind those roles tells a very different story in And Then One Day: A Memoir.
First published in 2014, the autobiography is less about success and more about everything that came before it. Shah writes with remarkable honesty about the fears he carried, the uncertainty he lived with and the moments when he questioned whether he belonged in the profession at all. It is that honesty that makes the book stand out even today.
The fear of stepping on stage never really disappeared
One of the most surprising things Shah admits is that he never completely got over stage fright. Even after studying at the National School of Drama and the Film and Television Institute of India, he says the nervousness stayed with him. Walking onto a stage or facing a camera did not suddenly become easy because he had experience.
Instead, he learned to accept those nerves as part of the job. Rather than waiting to feel fearless, he focused on the performance itself. Reading those pages, it becomes clear that confidence, at least for Shah, was something he built one performance at a time.
Acting was never part of a grand plan
Many actors speak about dreaming of cinema since childhood. Shah’s story was different.
In the memoir, he explains that acting was not something he had carefully planned. He was still trying to understand what he wanted from life when theatre entered the picture. What began as curiosity slowly turned into a passion, and over time, that passion became a career.
Looking back, he does not describe himself as someone chasing fame. He writes more like a young man searching for something that made sense, eventually finding it on stage.
There was a time when quitting seemed easier
The beginning of Shah’s career was filled with uncertainty. Good roles did not come easily, money was often tight and there were days when he wondered if acting could ever become a stable profession. He admits there were moments when he thought about walking away altogether. Like many newcomers, he had no guarantee that the struggle would ever pay off.
What kept him going was not the promise of stardom but his love for acting. That decision would eventually shape the kind of career he built, one that valued meaningful characters over commercial formulas.
He never tried to fit the hero mould
Shah is equally honest when he writes about his appearance. He says he never saw himself as someone who matched the image of the typical Hindi film hero. Instead of trying to change himself or chase conventional lead roles, he accepted that his strengths lay elsewhere. He chose characters with depth, stories that challenged him and films that allowed him to grow as an actor.
In hindsight, that choice became one of the defining moments of his career. Audiences may not have remembered him for glamorous songs or larger than life heroes, but they remembered the characters he brought to life.
More than a decade after it was published, And Then One Day remains one of the most candid autobiographies written by an Indian actor. It is not a book that tries to create the image of a flawless star. Instead, it introduces readers to a man who doubted himself, stumbled more than once and still found a way forward. Perhaps that is why, even at 76, Naseeruddin Shah continues to be admired not just for his performances, but for the honesty with which he has always spoken about his life.
