aseeruddin Shah's sparkling memoir of his early years, 'from zero tothirty-two', spans his extraordinary journey from a feudal hamlet nearMeerut, to Catholic schools in Nainital and Ajmer, and finally to stageand film stardom in Mumbai. Along the way, he recounts his passagesthrough Aligarh University, the National School of Drama and the Film andTelevision Institute of India, where his luck finally began to change.And Then One Day tells a compelling tale, written with rare honesty andconsummate elegance, leavened with tongue-in-cheek humour. Thereare moving portraits of family members, darkly funny accounts of hisschool days, and vivid cameos of directors and actors he has worked with,among them Ebrahim Alkazi, Shyam Benegal, Girish Karnad, Om Puriand Shabana Azmi. The accounts of his struggle to earn a living throughacting, his experiments with the craft, his love affairs, his early marriage,his successes and failures are narrated with remarkable frankness andobjective self-assessment. Brimming with delightful anecdotes as well aspoignant, often painful revelations, this book is a tour de force, destinedto become a classic of the genre.