Two of the most renowned actors in Indian cinema are Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah. Imaad Shah and Vivaan Shah are the couple's two sons; they were married in 1982.

Ratna discussed her career and acting in an interview with Faye D'Souza on her YouTube channel, revealing that she holds a different view of the acting industry than Naseeruddin.

During the interaction, Ratna spoke about the aspect of someone becoming an actor, and began, “I am going to quote from Naseer, ‘You shouldn’t want to be an actor unless you feel you will die if you don't act.' I am not one of those types. I am sorry. I had lots of arguments with Naseer about this. How can he say that? What happens to me? I don't feel I will die if I can't act! I love acting, I enjoy it, I do it with extreme concentration and seriousness. But I don't think that is the only thing I want out of life. He said, no. ‘If you want to be an actor-actor, full-time, career actor then it has to be that important for you.’”

She continued, “Lots of acting students come up to him and say, ‘Sir I am going to try for a couple of years and see.’ Naseer would say to them, ‘Just go now, forget about it. You won’t get anything in two years, I can promise you that.' Are you willing to wait forever? Are you willing to put up with everything? All the rubbish, all the disappointments? All the pain? There is a lot of pain. So, unless you really feel that you are going to die if you don't act, then best not to get into this business.”

The only Indian performer to win the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award is Naseeruddin Shah. His performance in Paar earned him the prize. In addition, he received three National Film Awards for his roles in Iqbal, Paar, and Sparsh.