Naseeruddin Shah On Film Promotions: No Use

India-West News Desk

MUMBAI – Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, whose show ‘IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack’ has just premiered on Netflix, believes that film promotions have lost their relevance and no longer generate audience interest.

In a recent roundtable discussion with his co-stars Vijay Varma, Arvind Swami, Pankaj Kapur, and Manoj Pahwa, as well as the show’s director Anubhav Sinha, Naseeruddin Shah shared his views on the topic. When Sinha asked about his aversion to promotions, Shah responded, “I feel it makes no difference.”

The actor elaborated that audiences naturally gravitate towards what they want to watch, sensing it instinctively. He reminisced about how, during his youth, people eagerly anticipated films, sometimes waiting over two years for a release. “I remember when I was in school or college, Dilip Kumar’s films would release after long intervals, sometimes two years apart. But we always planned to watch them, and nothing could dissuade us,” Shah recalled.

He further emphasized that the audience’s preferences are independent of promotional efforts. “The audience decides what they want to see, and us saying ‘We have worked really hard on this film’ makes no difference to them. Hard work is part of our job as actors; there’s no need to praise ourselves for it,” he concluded.