'ZNMD scene with Naseeruddin Shah reopened my childhood conflict with my father'

Farhan Akhtar and Naseeruddin Shah shared screen space in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’. Though Naseeruddin had just one scene in the film, his role was pivotal to the arc of Farhan’s character. In a recent interaction, Farhan spoke about shooting that moment with Naseer and how the experience came naturally to him, reminding him of his tumultuous equation with his father, Javed Akhtar.

Speaking to ‘Galatta Plus’, Farhan said, “I didn’t have that many lines. The lines belonged to Naseer Sahab and he is incredible. So, I had to just sit and listen to him. It was easy to react; it was easy to respond. What became difficult in that scene was having to do it over because that scene cannot be a performance. It had to feel like the boy was hearing it for the first time and the more we had to do it. Somehow, the actor's bone kicks in and the performance bit comes into it.”

Farhan shared that he and Naseeruddin didn’t rehearse that scene at all. “The first couple of times, it felt more natural because he was speaking to me for the first time and we didn’t rehearse at all,” he shared.

Reflecting on how that scene - in which Farhan confronts his estranged father, played by Naseer - reminded him of his own bond with his father after his parents separated, he said, “In some way, it transported me back to my childhood, to the questions that I had with my father when I was younger, not knowing what had happened and why my parents were not together. So, I think it tapped into that somewhere and it somehow came out in that scene, but not in a conscious way. But I remember feeling very emotional when that scene was shot and not having to pretend to be emotional at all. It all came very naturally.”