Veteran actor Kanwaljit Singh, who is recently garnering acclaim for his performance in Sanya Malhotra’s Mrs, shared his views on parallel cinema and addressed Naseeruddin Shah’s comment about Amitabh Bachchan, where Shah called him a businessman rather than an actor.
Speaking to Hindi Rush about Shah’s remark, he said, “No, no, I have great regards for Mr. Bachchan. I think he is a very fine actor.” Kanwaljit added that he considers Naseeruddin Shah ‘lucky’ to have realized that his potential lay in parallel cinema. However, he refused to agree with Shah’s opinion that Big B is not a great actor. “Naseer was lucky to realise that he wouldn’t be cast in commercial films because that was the time when people were making parallel cinema. If those kinds of films weren’t being made, then what? Naseer is my jaan, I call him the God of acting, but we can’t say that for Bachchan sahab,” he shared.
Naseeruddin Shah has been critical of Amitabh Bachchan multiple times in the past. Back in 2010, during an interview with NewsX, the veteran actor called Bachchan’s iconic film Sholay “not a great film.” He said, “He hasn’t made any great film. Sholay is not a great film, it’s entertaining for sure, but not great.”
After a string of flops, Amitabh Bachchan’s career was revived when he starred in Salim-Javed’s Zanjeer, followed by Deewar and Sholay. The actor then earned the title of ‘Angry Young Man’ and went on to star in over 200 films. Meanwhile, Naseeruddin Shah became a prominent figure in Indian parallel cinema. He began his career with Shyam Benegal’s Nishant and went on to star in widely acclaimed films such as Manthan, Sparsh, Aakrosh, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyoon Aata Hai, and many more.
On the professional front, Amitabh Bachchan was last seen in the blockbuster Kalki 2898 AD and Vettaiyan. Shah was last seen in Sonu Sood’s 2025 release Fateh.