Naseeruddin Shah criticises NSD, remarks ‘only failures come back to teach’

Never one to mince his words, veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has once again stirred debate by openly questioning.

The quality of training at the National School of Drama (NSD), India’s most prestigious acting institute. In a candid and controversial assessment, Shah said he learned little about the actual craft of acting during his time at NSD and suggested that those who return to teach often do so more out of responsibility than professional success.

Shah and his wife, actor Ratna Pathak Shah, are both NSD alumni. The institute is widely regarded as a cradle of Indian theatre and cinema, having produced acclaimed actors such as Om Puri, Irrfan Khan, Anupam Kher, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Neena Gupta and Piyush Mishra. Despite its formidable legacy, the couple said their own experience as students was underwhelming.

Speaking on Curtain Call with Aahana Kumra, Naseeruddin Shah was unsparing in his criticism. “There was no acting teacher worth the name at NSD when I was there,” he said. While he acknowledged that one instructor helped instil discipline, Shah maintained that the fundamentals of acting were never properly taught. “As far as the craft itself is concerned, apart from the experience of performing in several plays over the years, I didn’t learn anything about acting at NSD,” he added.

Ratna Pathak Shah echoed the sentiment, saying the situation remained unchanged even years later when she joined the institute. “Ditto. When I went to NSD, seven years after he had passed out, they still hadn’t figured out an acting teacher worth anything,” she said. Shah interjected sharply: “They still haven’t.”

The actor also addressed why he continues to return to NSD to work with students despite his dissatisfaction with its teaching framework. Framing it as both a duty and a personal learning process, Shah remarked, “Only the failures come back to teach at NSD. That is why I felt it was my responsibility to help these kids.” He added that engaging with students had deepened his own understanding of the craft. “I don’t consider myself a know-it-all, but since I started working with students, I’ve learned more about acting than I did in the 30 or 40 years of my career.”

Shah’s remarks come amid a period in which he has frequently found himself at the centre of public discourse. In a recent column for The Indian Express, the actor wrote about being disinvited from an event at Mumbai University. He alleged that the university neither apologised nor offered clarification, and instead publicly claimed that he had declined the invitation himself.