Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah will portray author Salman Rushdie in 27 Seconds, a stage play based on the writer’s account of the 2022 assassination attempt on his life.
According to NDTV, the knife attack took place on 12 August 2022 at New York’s Chautauqua Institution, leaving Rushdie permanently blind in his right eye.
Work on the adaptation began after Rushdie published Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder in 2024. Shah and dramaturge Kaushik Sen approached Rushdie’s team for adaptation rights.
Rushdie agreed on the condition that the script use words from his book. Co-director Arghya Lahiri said every line comes directly from the text. Shah later edited the script, which theatre group Motley founding member Ratna Pathak Shah reviewed.
Lahiri said the play explores the attack, creativity, censorship, religion, storytelling and respect for human life.
Rushdie told Hindustan Times he was delighted Shah accepted the role.
