“There was a time when I used to plough the field in a dhoti-kurta and here I was walking the red carpet at the most reputed film festival in a black tuxedo and Ray Ban glasses,” he shares. Both films received tremendous response from the overseas press. And Gangs Of Wasseypur (directed by Anurag Kashyap) featured in the Directors’ Fortnight category. Miss Lovely (directed by Ashim Ahluwalia) was selected in the competitive Un Certain Regard section. Two of his films were screened at Cannes.
This National School of Drama (NSD) graduate recently had a tryst with the Mecca of film festivals. I’ll be happy playing the lead in small content-driven films. Although, he plays the lead in Gangs Of Wasseypur and Miss Lovely, he doesn’t want to stop at just that. He wishes to explore his acting chops by playing the lead. Nawazuddin believes that he’s done with proving himself in character roles. Life’s varied experiences have helped me play diverse characters.” I feel love and I have also experienced hatred and suffering. “All the characters that I’ve played reside within me. “I take up roles which challenge me,” he explains. Be it his performance as the earnest journalist in Peepli or more recently the cocky CBI official Khan in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani or even a small role in Paan Singh Tomar as Gopi, he’s proved his talent. That’s how Black Friday happened.’’Īfter making brief appearances in Firaaq and New York, Nawazuddin has become a favourite where playing second fiddle is concerned.
I performed a theatre piece in front of him. He’d seen my blink and miss role in Sarfarosh. ‘‘Anurag was also struggling to make it as a director in the industry. He recalls his meeting with Anurag on the sets of Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya. Since his debut in Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has become the unsung hero at the movies. Nawazuddin may be the hero of art cinema but his lifescript could easily inspire a Bollywood potboiler.