I Lost a Girlfriend as I wasn't good looking,says Naseeruddin

Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah who is a prominent figure in the Indian parallel cinema, said he bagged his first role in Shyam Benegal's Nishant not merely for his acting prowess but because of his "bad looks" .Naseeruddin did a Bollywood debut in director Shyam Benegal's 1975 Hindi flick "Nishant"."My girlfriend had left me saying I wasn't as good looking as needed for Bollywood films. Infact I was bad looking. But Shyam Benegal offered me my debut because of the same reason. It suited his hero's character," Shah said at the Jaipur Literature Festival here today.But even after making a powerful debut, Shah recollected how "instant fame" was difficult to come by and how he had to go through a period of struggle when he was relatively "jobless".