Naseeruddin Shah conquers his dance phobia

NRI director Anu Menon’s film Waiting is about two individuals who bond over impending bereavement in a hospital. The key characters are essayed by Kalki Koechlin and Naseeruddin Shah. The latter plays a man whose wife has gone into a coma. And then he meets Kalki whose husband is involved in a near-fatal car crash. The bonding over bereavement has several manifestations in the story. However, the one part that Naseer found most petrifying to act out was where he had to break into an impromptu jig with Kalki.

Dancing makes Naseer a nervous wreck even though he managed to score some points in Oye Oye from the film Tridev. But he seemed to have conquered his fears in Waiting. Recalling his dance phobia, Naseer says, “There was a dance class in the film institute when I was a student, which I never attended. It was called playback and we had to play few songs and action them. I never went to the class. I didn’t even appear for that exam.” Facing the camera to do a jig with a natural dancer like Kalki was a daunting task for the veteran actor. “Dancing in front of the camera has always been one of my greatest nightmares. Having done Oye Oye and Ooh La La (Dirty Picture) has extended my career by a decade each time. So I am kind of grateful for that, but I don’t believe myself to dance well. I tried as hard as I could to enjoy the process while dancing with Kalki.”