Entertainment

 Top’s the way to go

In a brief t`EAte-`E0-t`EAte, Nawazuddin Siddiqui traces his roots and struggle to reach the tip of Bollywood
Shoma A. Chatterji

No one who has seen Kahaani can forget the no-nonsense, arrogant, gritty, abusive Intelligence Bureau officer Khan, who cuts the sentiment out of his approach to the overly pregnant Vidya Bagchi. He matches her performance scene by scene and frame to frame though the footage he is given is lesser than what Vidya Bagchi gets. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a household name today, thanks to his mind-blowing versatile histrionics he has recently demonstrated in Gangs of Wasseypur I and II and, a bit earlier, in Paan Singh Tomar.

Let’s hear a bit about the back story of Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

I belong to Burhani, a little village near a small town called Budhana in Muzaffarnagar district in western Uttar Pradesh. I did not have a clue about what to do till my friends advised me to do theatre and go to Delhi. I joined a theatre group called Sakshi because I had watched a play after reaching Delhi that got me hooked. I watched around 250 plays after which I joined the National School of Drama and graduated in 1996. One of the NSD directors Valentin Teplyakov was a turning point in my life. He directed me in an Anton Chekov play called ‘Ivanov’. I also got an opportunity to work with stalwarts like Manoj Bajpai and Saurabh Shukla. This gave me the confidence to try my luck in Bollywood.

Did luck favour you after you went to Mumbai?

Not really. I picked up crumbs from big breads when I could and managed to get itsy bitsy roles in Sarfarosh (1999), The Bypass (2003) and Munnabhai MBBS (2003). It was a 12-year-long struggle for Kahaani to happen because few took notice of me in Paan Singh Tomar, though it was an important role. But a miracle happened and Anurag Kashyap came. He changed my life. Black Friday (2008) filled me with the hope that things will change for the better.

And then, Cannes happened?

It was something beyond my wildest dreams. I was speechless when I learnt that three of my films, Miss Lovely and Gangs of Wasseypur I and II were to be screened at the Cannes. It was a rare event for a little-known actor like me. It was a dream-come-true for a man with extremely humble beginnings. There was a time when no one would take even a second look at me. I do not have the conventional looks of a star. I am just 5’6" tall, dark, thin and with little screen presence. Anurag had seen me in a play and told me that if he ever made a film, he would take me in it. He kept his word and took me in Black Friday.

Why do you say you come from ‘humble’ beginnings?

My father was a farmer and education in my village stopped at Std X. So I went to Hardwar to do my high school and graduation. I have come up the hard way so I have not allowed the success of Kahaani to go to my head. You will be surprised to know that no designer was prepared to design the suit I would have liked to wear in the Cannes because they did not take me seriously. My wife got a suit tailored by a local tailor.

Did you expect the tremendous response to Kahaani?

Seriously, none of us did. I did not expect this all-round praise across the country for my portrayal. But things are turning around and I have now decided to take on lead roles in my forthcoming projects. I have done the second lead in Aamir Khan’s Talaash and a very important role in Patang, an NRI production. Aamir had seen my work in Peepli Live and had recommended me. There are more films in the offing such as Chittagong, Monsoon Shootout, Mangesh Hadawale’s Dekh Indian Circus, Ritesh Batra’s Lunch Box and Ketan Mehta’s Mountain Man based on the life of Dashrath Manjhi. But that again, is another story.

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