By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) So far he has refused to colour his hair even for a film, but now Naseeruddin Shah has not only dyed his hair, he has also shaved his beard and lost a lot of weight to look like an eligible 40-year-old for Vidya Balan in “Ishqiya”. The veteran actor says he is having the time of his life shooting the movie.

“That’s right. I’m supposed to be this 40-year-old rake doing naughty things, like wooing the neighbourhood widow Vidya Balan. Giving me competition in the endeavour is my screen bhanja (nephew) Arshad Warsi. So my character has to really pull up his socks to vie for the lady’s attentions,” Naseer told IANS.

“I’ve never really believed in such vanity in real life. But my character definitely does have to be an eligible 40-year-old for Vidya’s sake,” he joked from Wai, 90 km from Pune. He is shooting for the film by debutant director Abhishek Choubey.

“I’m having the time of my life here in Wai. ‘Ishqiya’ gives me a chance for a change of pace in many ways,” said the thespian.

The chemistry between Naseer and Vidya is crackling and the actress has declared that Naseer is her favourite actor.

“Please put this on-record — Vidya is a really troublesome co-star. And Arshad is such a method actor he spends hours preparing for a scene,” Naseer joked and then added: “They’re honestly great fun to work with. I’ve never played anything like this character before.”

The films is being produced by Vishal Bharadwaj and Wai seems to be his favourite place to shoot as he shot his ready-to-release “Kaminey” with Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra there. Earlier, he had shot “Omkara” in the same mountain resort.