In a conversation with Parvathy Thiruvothu at the eighth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival, Naseeruddin Shah — known for acclaimed films such as Nishant, Aakrosh, A Wednesday, Sarfarosh and Maqbool — lamented the declining quality of movies today and their influence.
Shah believes that an "individual's thinking" doesn't change after watching a film, no matter how good they are, but rather, he feels that "the most important purpose that serious cinema serves is not to bring change in the world but be a record of its times."
He added that it would be a "tragedy" when people look up the Bollywood films 100 years later to get a sense of what India of 2025 was like. He also feels that filmmakers find it difficult to make truthful films because they run the risk of getting banned due to the absence of "commercial elements".
He isn't, however, concerned with a film's performance, as he feels that he will be content even if one person is impacted by his work.
Shah has expressed his distaste for films that indulge in masculinity glorification, bringing up the question of whether they pander to the innermost fantasies of men who despise women or are a reflection of society's mindset. He believes that cinema influences society and vice versa.
He regrets doing certain movies in the past for monetary reasons but is proud of the good films he did. "There were movies I did only for money. That's the simple truth. And I don't think there's anything wrong with working for money. What do we all do, after all? But yes, I do regret some of those choices. Fortunately, people tend to forget the bad work, and remember the good things you did."
