Naseerudin Shah does not want you to buy his (unauthorised) book in Pakistan

Indian actor Naseerudin Shah intends to take legal action after an “unauthorised Urdu translation” of his book And Then One Day was published in Pakistan and is available for sale.

“I wish to state that I have nothing to do with this translation and intend to take legal action to stop its sale,” Shah said in a post on his Facebook page.

He also requested that friends in Pakistan “refrain from buying this book”.

The memoir was published in 2015 by Penguin Random House India, and is described as “Shah’s sparkling memoir of his early years, ‘from zero to thirty-two’, spans his extraordinary journey from a feudal hamlet near Meerut to Catholic schools in Nainital and Ajmer, and finally to stage and film stardom in Mumbai”.

According to the synopsis And Then One Day details “the accounts of his struggle to earn a living through acting, his experiments with the craft, his love affairs, his early marriage, his successes and failures are narrated with remarkable frankness and objective self-assessment. Brimming with delightful anecdotes as well as poignant, often painful revelations, this book is a tour de force, destined to become a classic of the genre”.

Last year, Shah found himself at the centre of a controversy in Pakistan after making statements in which he claimed Sindhi is no longer spoken in Pakistan. These remarks, made during promotions for his web series Taj: Divided By Blood, triggered a wave of criticism and strong backlash from Pakistanis. Shah then took to his official Facebook page to issue a sincere and official apology, acknowledging his mistake and expressing regret for any offence caused.

Shah posted the apology on his Facebook page and addressed it to the entire Sindhi-speaking population of Pakistan. In his statement, he admitted his error and extended his heartfelt apologies for deeply offending the community with his mistaken opinion but couldn’t help but take a jab at his naysayers.

“Okay, okay. I apologise to the entire Sindhi-speaking population of Pakistan who I seem to have deeply offended by my mistaken opinion. I admit I was ill-informed but is it necessary to crucify me for that? ‘Let him who is free from…’ as Jesus said,” he wrote.

“Actually, I’m quite enjoying being called ‘ignorant’ and ‘pretend intellectual’ after many years of being mistaken for an intelligent person. It’s quite a change!”