In 1978, after having saved up enough money, a young Naseeruddin Shah bought his first car, a second-hand Premier Padmini, for ₹18,000. In the excitement of the purchase, the actor took the vehicle on a road trip from Mumbai to Delhi, where he was scheduled to shoot for a film. After a long, tiring journey the car broke down and had to be taken to a garage where it was kept for almost a month. “I probably spent more on repairing it than I spent on buying it,” laughs Shah. Once fixed, he drove the car back to Mumbai and quickly sold it off.
“As kids, we never had a car,” recalls the actor. “My dad had one Ford Model-T. When I was really small, he sold it and after that, he couldn’t afford to buy a car. In fact, the ₹18,000 Premier Padmini was the first car our family had.”
Does the actor have a photograph of it? “Hell no,” he says. “I didn’t even have a camera then. But it was hideous turquoise colour, then in Delhi repainted a turd-colour. I flogged it as fast as I could; I think I got 10K for it.”
The actor then bought another second-hand Premier Padmini, this time for ₹30,000. The car met with a similar fate, albeit more tragic. “I had it for a year and one day the Delhi police turned up and took it away because they said it was a stolen car.”
The actor protested but was immediately shot down by the cops. “To add to my woes, a news article appeared saying, ‘Actor in stolen car racket’, which I really loved so I still preserve that cutting.”
Shah never got his second car back, and nor did its original owner. He was later informed that the vehicle was stolen from Muzaffarnagar and brought to Mumbai under a fake registration number. “When we looked at the booklet, it was all gibberish,” he recounts. “I was so excited while getting this practically new car for 30 thousand bucks that I didn’t bother to look at the papers”.
Despite the bitter experiences, Shah’s first two cars left him with fond, lasting memories. His wife Ratna Pathak Shah was then studying at the National School of Drama, Delhi, when he drove his first Premier Padmini to the Capital. “I have fond memories of sitting with her in the car in the freezing winter without a heater,” chuckles the actor, who proudly drives a comfortable Land Rover today.
