Happy Birthday Naseeruddin Shah and Gracy Singh!

July 20 celebrated the birthday of two Bollywood celebrities; actor/director Naseeruddin Shah and actress Gracy Singh.

Shah was born on 20 July, 1950 in Uttar Pradesh where his father was an army officer. He completed his schooling in Ajmaer and Nainital, while he graduated in arts from the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University and then went to on to attend NSD Delhi. Shah is one of those very few actors who has found success in mainstream commercial films as well as in critically acclaimed parallel films. He has some international credits to his name as well in movies such as The League Of Extra Ordinary Gentlemen, Khuda Ke Liye, Monsoon Wedding  and The Great New Wonderful. He has won numerous awards in his career too, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards for Best Actor, and a Best Actor (The Volpi Cup) at the Venice Film Festival. Shah has also been honoured with both the prestigious Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Indian Cinema.

 

Shah made his debut with Nishant (1975), a Shyam Benegal movie, and he soon followed it with some brilliant performances including Sparsh (1979), where he played a blind man, which resulted in him winning a National Award. He soon established a theatre group, Motley Productions, along with Tom Alter and Benjamin Gilani. His versatility as an actor can be confirmed with his roles in movies such as 3 Deewarein, Aakrosh, Naajayaz, Valley of Flowers, Paar, The Dirty Picture, Ishqiya, Maqbool, Sir,  Iqbal and A Wednesday. His played the villain brilliantly in Sarfarosh, Krissh and Mohra. He even forayed in the TV industry leaving a lasting impression in the series Mirza Ghalib based on the life of the legendary poet. In the play Mahatma Vs Gandhi he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi, where he again was able to portray the character in the film, Hey Ram. Shah has also directed plays and the Bollywood movie Yun Hota To Kya Hota, which was his son's, Imdad, debut and also co-stared his wife, Ratna Pathak.

 

Gracy Singh was born on 20 July, 1980 in Delhi .She played the popular character Dinky in Zee TV's popular drama, Amanat, and also toured with the dance group, The Planets. Singh is a trained classical dancer having studied Bharatnatyam and Odissi. Her first appearance on the silver screen was in 1998 in the movie Sar Utha Ke Jiyo, where she made a special appearance. She had small roles in movies such as Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain and Hu Tu Tu. She was finally cast opposite Aamir Khan in the sensational hit Lagaan where she played a village lass and earned her first a Filmfare Award nomination. She then entered the Telugu film industry where she found moderate success. She on screen career found her playing a doctor twice; once in Armaan and the next time in MunnaBhai MBBS which took the nation by storm. She has also acted in Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Malayalam movies.

 

Writer:  Vibha B.

Editor: Shreya S. & Jenifer Y.

Graphics: Virina R.