Amruta Subhash recalls Naseeruddin Shah yelling at her: ‘I'd rather see you fail than repeat for applause'
Actor Amruta Subhash recently opened up about a pivotal moment in her career involving veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, whose unexpected reaction to her stage performance seems to have left an impact on her.
In an interview with The Lallantop, Amruta recalled performing in a play that featured an emotional scene where her character cried. The moment always earned her loud applause from the audience. Confident in her craft, she repeated the same delivery each time. When she spotted Naseeruddin Shah in the audience one day, she leaned into the performance even more, only to receive an unexpected critique.
'He came to me and said, 'Amruta, I watched your play.' I was proud and expecting praise,' she shared. Instead, Shah said, 'Beta, I am concerned.'
He revealed that he had watched both shows of the play that day and noticed she repeated her performance to elicit applause. 'I would rather see you failing doing something new rather than doing the same thing again and again for claps,' he told her.
He challenged her to question whether her character even needed to cry in that moment, warning her not to fall into predictable patterns. 'You're forcing yourself on the character… You will be repetitive as an actor. Your career will be over,' he said. This seems to have struck a chord with Amruta, who called it a turning point in her journey.
The National Award-winning actor is known for her roles in Killa, Vihir, Contract, Raman Raghav 2.0, Gully Boy, and Dhamaka. She was last seen in 2025's Chidiya, alongside Vinay Pathak and Svar Kamble.
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