Masoom remains one of the finest films ever made.
When we think of Shekhar Kapur, the films that instantly come to mind are usually Mr. India or Bandit Queen. As path-breaking and diverse as those two were, there is also his 1983 relationship drama Masoom, his directorial debut, which over time has become even more seminal in more ways than one. If it was Kapur’s directorial debut, it was also the first film in which actor Jugal Hansraj, known for Mohabbatein, made his debut as a child actor. The film also starred Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. Now, in a recent conversation with Pinkvilla, Jugal Hansraj revealed that Shabana Azmi, who plays his stepmother in the film, didn’t talk to him at all on the film sets.
He recalled, “We used to stay very distant from each other. She is more of a method actor, and she was very close to the actors who played her on-screen daughters, as she was playing their mother in the film. But she kept a little distance from me. Later, I learned that it was part of her process, she didn’t want us to become too close, as wanted that awkwardness to be visible on screen. And that did show, as people could sense there was a discomfort between our characters. She did that beautifully.”
Just recently, in a conversation with Radio Nasha Official while talking about Masoom, Jugal said that he had initially rejected the film when it was first offered to him. “My first reaction to the film was that this character is continually crying. All my friends will call me a cry baby. They will tease me, so I made up my mind that I don’t want to do it. But then he (Shekhar Kapur) really worked hard at convincing me. He used to come to our house, meet my parents, play cricket and board games with me. And slowly, we became friends,” he recalled.
He also recalled in the same interview how the late legend Dharmendra really appreciated his performance in the film. “He had actually sent a message home and later called to tell my father that he cried for the first time after watching a film. To hide his tough on-screen persona, he always used to cover his face with something before shedding tears. And he even said that if in the future there is a good role for his on-screen son, he would only call me. He also told my father not to worry and said he would take care of me,” he said.
Shekhar Kapur announced Masoom 2 in 2024. Earlier this year, he announced that the film will star Manoj Bajpayee and Nithya Menen, along with his daughter Kaveri.