[2] The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Divya Dutta, Shefali Shah and Jisshu Sengupta.

Basing the script on Utpal Dutt's semiautobiographical play Aajker Shahjahan, Rituparno Ghosh penned it in 2006, and turned to the actors in February 2007, all of whom accepted the offer.

[4] The Last Lear premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September[5] and received a significant reception, earning many accolades after being showcased at a Gala Presentation.

[8] The story revolves around Harish Mishra (Amitabh Bachchan), a retired Shakespearean theatre actor who spent precisely thirty years and nine months on stage and then suddenly quit, and his first and last act as a cinema artist.

He is immensely passionate about Shakespeare, believes that nothing even comparable can ever be written, knows all his plays by heart, lives in those stories, condemns modern cinema, and considers theatre as a much higher artform for directors and actors to convey their message to an audience.

And, hence, the impatient young auteur attempts to win the trust and collaboration of the aged performer, who sits raging against the modern world from the sanctuary of his study.