Naseeruddin Shah & Arjun Mathur Movies Together List — 3 Films

The shape of the work

The 2000s belonged to Barah Aana; the 2010s to Waiting. Naseeruddin Shah acted in every film; Arjun Mathur acted in all of them. Strictly Hindi cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Naseeruddin Shah personally called Arjun Mathur after watching his short film 'The Last Call' (2007) and told him, 'You are a wonderful actor, let's work together.' That call led directly to 'Barah Aana' (2009).
• On the set of 'Barah Aana' (2009), Naseer would deliberately break his own dialogue rhythm mid-scene to throw Arjun off-balance — forcing him to react in the moment rather than recite rehearsed lines. Arjun later said it was the best acting lesson he ever got.
• During the disastrous shoot of 'My Friend Pinto' (2011), Naseer and Arjun shared a room in Goa for three weeks because the production budget was so tight. They spent nights reading out old Hindi film dialogues to each other and laughing about the film's chaos.
• Arjun Mathur on Naseeruddin Shah: 'He is the only actor I know who can make you feel like you're the best actor in the world in one scene, and then in the next scene, make you feel like you know nothing at all.' — from a 2016 interview about 'Waiting'.
• In 'Waiting' (2016), Naseer insisted that Arjun play the entire first half of their scenes together without any eye contact — because his character was supposed to be emotionally shut off. Arjun had to act entirely through his body language and voice, which Naseer later called 'the most disciplined performance I've ever seen from a younger actor.'