Mohommed Ali Shah

Mohommed Ali Shah
Shah in 2015
Native name	मुहम्मद अली शाह
Born	Mohammed Ali Shah[1] (1979-09-23) 23 September 1979 Calcutta, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actor[2]
Years active	2012–present
Religion	Islam
Spouse(s)	Kakul Fatima Shah
Parent(s)	Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah
Relatives	Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah (father) Naseeruddin Shah (Uncle)
Awards	International film Award as Best Actor in 4th Delhi International Film Festival[2]

Mohommed Ali Shah (born 23 September 1979) also known as Major Mohommed Ali Shah^[3][4] is an Indian theater personality, film actor and a social activist.^[5][6] Shah is the son of Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah (PVSM, SM, VSM) Former Deputy Chief of The Army Staff, former member Armed Forces Tribunal and currently the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. He is also the nephew of internationally acclaimed actor Naseeruddin Shah.^[7]

Early life

Shah’s ancestors were the Nawabs Of Sardhana, a tehsil near Delhi. He did his schooling from Lawrence School, Lovedale. He graduated from Fergusson College, Pune. In 1999 Ali was crowned the coveted title of Mr. Pune Talent. During his student days in Pune Ali worked closely in several short films with the Film and Television Institute of India and the Symbiosis Institute of Mass communication. He started earning his own pocket money at the age of 18 by doing part-time jobs. After his graduation Ali moved to Delhi for a year where he did theater and also worked with “GE Capital International Services” now known as Genpact.^[8]

Career

Army

Major Ali Shah joined the Short Service Commission. He trained at The Officers Training Academy at Chennai.^[9] As a young Lieutenant Ali was deployed with his regiment in the counter insurgency areas of Jammu & Kashmir at the Line of Control. He was promoted to the rank of Captain and was transferred on a very prestigious assignment as the ADC to a General Officer Commanding in the North East, where the GOC incidentally was his father.^[10] Thereafter, he was promoted to the rank of a Major while posted with The Assam Rifles. Ali’s company won the Director General Assam Rifles banner for being the best in endurance. He was a Television Commentator for Doordarshan for The 4th CISM Military World Games held at Mumbai in 2007. He was awarded with a commendation card for being unmindful of his own personal safety and going beyond the call of duty and for his exceptional and meritorious service to the Nation and had a rare honour to lead the Assam Rifles marching contingent at Rajpath New Delhi in 2008.^[11]

Corporate career

After his stint in the Army, Ali went to the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta to study management and was offered one of the top most placements on campus. He was last at a very senior managerial position with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd before making his entry into films. Ali has till date been receiving offers to join as the CEO to many corporate houses.

Theatre

All this while Shah remained committed to his first love – Theatre, and was consistent with doing plays. In 2010, he was nominated as the best actor and the best director, during the inaugural of the International Theatre festival in India Short and Sweet. Ali has done professional theatre with thespians such as Naseeruddin Shah and Tom Alter apart from several other leading groups of the country

As an Actor

• Cane Mutiny Court Martial^[12]
• Ghalib^[2]
• Ghalib ke Khutoot
• Don’t Drink the Water
• Hello Dolly
• Ghost Diary
• Abu Hassan pays his Debts
• The Man who Came to Dinner
• The Inspector General^[13]

As a Director

• Fiddler on the Roof” at Lawrence School, Lovedale as a professional director.
• A 10-minute monologue for the inauguration of “ Short and sweet” international theatre festival in Delhi.

Film career

In 2013, Ali^[14] decided to step out of his comfort zone and say good bye to his secure cushy and comfortable regular 9 to 5 job and convert his dreams into reality. He moved to Mumbai after purchasing a humble abode of his own and made a humble start in the Indian film industry.^[15][16] He has acted in FTII alumnus, Sriram Raghavan’s film – “ Agent Vinod”, Vishal Bhardwaj’s cult film – ‘ Haider” and has recently completed shooting for National School Of Drama alumnus and National award winning director Tigmanshu Dhulia’s latest film – “ Yaara”. Incidentally and interestingly both Vishal Bhardwaj and Tigmanshu Dhulia are National Film Award winners. He has acted in a film based on a noted shaiyar – “ Majaz Lucknawi”. He has played the protagonist in several films which have done exceptionally well at various international film festivals and won him a lot of critical acclaim as a true and an honest artiste. He has featured in an advertisement for Caratlane made by acclaimed director Sabal Singh Shekhawat.^[17] Major Mohommed Ali Shah, did his family proud and went on to prove that he has his own identity and doesn't have to live in the shadows of his illustrious uncle, Mr. Naseer Uddin Shah, who is himself a recipient of various " Best Actor" awards at National and International level, by winning the " Best Actor" award at an International platform, at the very prestigious 4th Delhi International Fim Festival, for an English film he played the title and lead role in - The Ruffian, which has also been dubbed into Hindi and Malayalam. Ali has been hounded by prestigious film offers from the west eversince.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2012	Agent Vinod	Police Inspector	Released
2014	Haider	Army Major	Released
2014	Ai Zakhme Dil Kya Karun	Akhter Imam (Based on Majaz Lakhnawi)	Post Production
2015	The Great Indian Tamasha	ATS Chief	Screened at 4th Delhi International Film Festival
2015	The Ruffian	Rebel Leader	Awarded Best Actor for 4th Delhi International Film Festival[2]
2015	Merit Animal	Sports Coach	Post Production
2015	Bajrangi Bhaijaan	Prison Officer	Released
2016	Yaara	-	Post-production

Personal life

Ali completed his Short Service Commission stint from the Army in 2008 and married his childhood friend Kakul Fatima Shah the same year, who is doing her PHD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His sister Saira Shah Halim is a social activist from Calcutta.Her father in law, Mr. Hashim Abdul Halim, who was also a choice for The Vice President Of India and who was also the first Indian to be elected as the chairperson of the common wealth parliamentary association. In 2012, Ali took up a cause and fought bravely against a private airline’s gross misconduct and proved a point that customers are well aware of their rights, for which Ali was applauded and appreciated from all quarters.^[22][23][24]

References

External links

• Mohommed Ali Shah at the Internet Movie Database

Shah family 1st generation Muhammed Shah (Jan-Fishan Khan) 2nd generation Nawab Muhammad Ali Shah Sardar Bhadur Mir Khan 3rd generation Nawab Syed Amjad Ali Shah (last Nawab of Sardhana) Sultan Mohammed Khan 4th generation Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah [m. Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah] Bibi Mehmooda Begum [m. Nawab Mirza Shakir Hussain Barlas] Rahat Ali Shah Saadat Ali Shah 5th generation Amina Shah Omar Ali-Shah [m. Anna Maria Ali-Shah] Idries Shah [m. Cynthia (Kashfi) Kabraji] Nawab Mirza Aqil Hussain Barlas [m. Bibi Mehtabunnisa Begum, Nusrat Barlas] Lt. General Zameerud-din Shah Naseeruddin Shah [m. Ratna Pathak Shah] Syed Kamal Agha Sarwat Ali Shah [m. Mobeen Zehra Shah (Suhaila)] Mir Ahmed Shah Syed Anwar Ali Shah Nawab Syed Mussavir Ali Shah Nawab Halima Barlas Nafisa Barlas Aquila Barlas (Dr. Aquila Berlas Kiani) [m. Abdul Hameed Kiani] Naema Barlas (Dr. N.B. Matuk) 6th generation Arif Ali-Shah Syed Noman Ali Shah Nawab Agha Syed Yasir Ali Shah Nawab Syed Hammad Ali Shah Amina Ali-Shah Saira Shah [Scott Goodfellow] Tahir Shah [m. Rachana Shah] Safia Shah Owais Shah Heeba Shah Imaad Shah Vivaan Shah Mohommed Ali Shah Nawab Mirza Adil Hussain Barlas [m. Rukhsana Barlas] Khalid Kiani Sohail Kiani Lina Kiani