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| Nawazuddin Siddiqui with Niharika Singh in Miss Lovely |
Nawazuddin Siddiqui first wanted to become an actor to be the man doing all the soft-porn scenes in C-grade films. Ironically, his first film as a lead turned out to be Miss Lovely, director Ashim Ahluwalia’s exploration of India’s C-grade film industry of the 1980s which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and is finally getting a theatrical release on January 17.
In a smoke-filled tiny room in Versova, the man who is now on every director’s wish list and has 300 scripts lying around his place, spoke to t2 about this exciting phase of his career, looked back at the difficult years of struggle with humour and admitted that the biggest challenge for him now is selection. Here’s Nawaz bhai unplugged.
Miss Lovely was your first film as a lead actor. After premiering in Cannes in 2012, it’s finally releasing in India. Personally, are you happy that a past work is releasing so late?
Mere khayal se bahut achha time hai. The most important thing is that it is releasing. That’s what makes me most happy. Yes, I have an emotional connection with Miss Lovely because it had me in the lead role for the first time. At that time I didn’t realise the importance of a lead role. I was just excited to get into character. In my small room when I used to imagine myself as another person, all the little nuances used to come alive in front of my eyes. Usi mein ulajh jaata tha. Lead actor banne ka maaza baad mein ehsaas hota hai. A star understands he is a star only after he becomes a star. Not while becoming a star.
Your director Ashim Ahluwalia said that when he auditioned you for the role of Sonu Duggal, he felt that there were many similarities between the character and you, the most striking being that both of you believe you are very talented and haven’t got your due.
When I auditioned for the role, I was just given this one passage from the film, which I had to learn and say in front of the camera. That’s all I knew at that time. I got to know about the character and his background only after I read the script. There were quite a few similarities. Like Sonu, I had seen the world. When I had come to Mumbai, no one had suggested to me what I should be doing or who I should be meeting to try and become an actor. Jo bhi mil jaata tha, ussi se mil lete thhey. Struggle yeh tha ki mil jaaye koi director.
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| Hota sab aap hi ke andar hai, lekin kured kured ke laana padta hai. Khan (of Kahaani) bhi mere andar tha... his arrogance was inside me |
Also, what happened during that time, I met a few C-grade filmmakers. In fact, I did a couple of C-grade films at that time... lasting 30-40 seconds on screen. But I did make a lot of friends in that industry. I used to be with them all the time... dosti yaari ho gayee. So, I had a first-hand experience of that world.
But this wasn’t going to be a C-grade film...
I didn’t know of Ashim. When I got the script, I thought this guy must have spent a lot of time with people from the C-grade film industry or must be a C-grade filmmaker himself (laughs). But then I got to know of his first film, John & Jane, and how it had made it to a lot of important film festivals worldwide. Then I realised that he is trying to make a film on the C-grade film industry and not making a C-grade film (laughs even louder).
As a young kid growing up in Budhana in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, did you watch these C-grade films for leisure?
Haan haan... bahut achha lagta hai! (Sits up all animated) We had this attitude and we still have it... ki timepass karne ke liye film dekhte hain. Hai naa? Yes there is an audience now to watch so-called good films but the majority of the audience go to the theatres for timepass. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, these C-grade films were the only ones which came to the village theatre. That’s all I used to watch... chaska lag gaya tha mujhe!
Those films used to have these strange names on their posters... Nangi Auratein, Khooni Panja and what not. And honestly those posters were very attractive. The moment someone used to come out having watched the film, I used to ask him: “Kya bhai kuch scene-veen hai kya?” And he would be like: “Haan haan... ticket le lo....” Then I used to go in. Aur film chal rahi hai... chal rahi hai... aur achanak porn portion aa jaati thi. That is the reason we used to all go.
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| Nawaz as Faisal Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur II |
For a long time I was convinced that films were only of that kind. Kabhi kabhi dimaag mein yeh bhi chalta tha ki actor banoonga toh iss tarah ke scene karne ko bhi milenge. Scene ke scene ho jaayenge aur paise bhi milenge... yeh hi karoonga main toh!
Quite ironical then that you would have your first lead role in Miss Lovely where you did get to do those scenes you always wanted to do — in an A-grade film about C-grade films!
Yes, but by then I was quite educated about cinema. NSD had happened. By the time I started shooting for Miss Lovely, I knew this was a quality film. But there was a problem. I was already a trained actor. I had gone through a lot of life experiences, watched a lot of world cinema and read up on films. And all those C-grade actors I knew 10 years back were also part of Miss Lovely. They hadn’t trained themselves or read and watched cinema as much and were exactly how they were a decade back. Our outlook and thinking had become very different about acting and films in general. So, the challenge for me was to unlearn everything I had learnt in front of my friends. To match my performance with theirs. In many ways Miss Lovely helped me learn this trick of unlearning everything and creating something from scratch. This I have applied in all my films ever since.
You are now a phenomenon. Do you believe that you should have made it much before or do you feel that you are lucky to have arrived at a time when different films and all kinds of talent are getting appreciated?
I think I am lucky. Because the time now is like that. All the directors who are established now were also struggling back then. They couldn’t make the films they wanted to at that time. Now they can. All this globalisation, information, Internet... the whole world became this small. You could see cinema from everywhere in your room. Everyone started getting updated, became very aware and all started having their independent thoughts. That started the change. And not just in cinema. It’s the same in politics, as you can see.
What other changes do you want to see in Indian cinema? The big star movies are still raking in all the crores...
Promotion bhi toh waisa hota hai. Pagalon ki tarah promotion karte hain tab jaake woh filmein chalti hain. Main poochhta hoon, superstar hai toh promotion karne ki zaroorat kya hai? Lekin woh zyaada kar rahe hain. And those films are doing well. But the other smaller films are also doing very well. You can’t take them for granted. These Rs 6 crore films are now collecting Rs 30-40 crore. Aur Rs 70 crore ki film Rs 100 crore banake party manaa rahi hai. You have to look at the margins.
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| Acting is my passion. That’s all I am here for. But I am completely okay to dance with Deepika Padukone in Switzerland! As an actor I have to explore every kind of film, every genre |
I really believe that the smaller films are more viable. The big films will continue to work. People will go for them, have their popcorn, forget about the films and look forward to next weekend’s release. No one will talk about those films. The only talk is about isne kitna kamaaya aur usne kitna kamaaya. Sirf record bante jaate hain. Record pe hi hai woh. But if you watch a film like Miss Lovely, you won’t be able to get it out of your system. You can try but you won’t be able to.
Don’t you want to do those big films? Dance with Deepika Padukone in Switzerland maybe and also make enough money to buy a big house in Mumbai?
No, I have never thought of buying a house. Because I didn’t come to Mumbai to buy a house. If it was just about buying a house, I could have set up a sugar factory and bought a house. Or maybe done some business. Acting is my passion. That’s all I am here for. But I am completely okay to dance with Deepika Padukone in Switzerland! As an actor I have to explore every kind of film, every genre. You can’t ignore the big films. They can be meaningful too. And if I do those films, I will find something or the other in them as well.
Like you are doing Kick with Salman Khan...
Yes, it’s a completely new world in front of me. I am excited.
Last heard, you have more than 300 scripts lying around. Do you read all of them?
No, I obviously don’t read all of them. Phir aur kaam kaise karoonga? But I do feel the biggest challenge for me is selection. Which scripts to select. After a point of time, the choice you make becomes your talent. And there are so many external pressures. Paise ka laalach diya jaata hai aapko.... Then important people get offended when you turn them down.
So what are the most important criterion for you when picking a film?
The director is the most important criterion for me. Not his previous films. It can be his first film. What is his thought about the film he wants to make. I want to raid that thought, understand where he is coming from and where he wants to end up. Banaana kya chahta hai? I believe that a good director can make even an average script shine. Things start happening once you get to the floor. Gangs of Wasseypur had no script. There was just this one line — ek banda baap ka badla leta hai. That’s all there was to it. Then part one was added. Aur phir cult film bann gayi. Because of the director (Anurag Kashyap).
And how much do you add to the character or to the film as a whole?
Of course I add a backstory to my character. I look at his mindset... what is he thinking all the time. Why is he thinking that... what are the reasons, what is the logic behind such thinking. There’s the entire science behind it. Acting is f***ing science! And also, I give a lot of importance to what others think of my character. Once I get a part, I would want to know what you think of that part. Of course, keeping in mind what the director thinks of it. And then I mix all of these thoughts with what I think and whether I can connect this man to some life experience I have had. If I can’t find such an experience, can I connect it to any of my observations or at least my imagination?
Say for a character like the cop in Kahaani, Khan, how can you add your life experience to it? It’s so removed from your world...
But I have seen people like that. I have been to the IB (Intelligence Bureau) office... I have seen how people operate there. I have even spoken to them. I have spent all my idle time observing people. People from all kinds of status. And also from where I hail. Just in my family there are more than 200 people. We used to all live together... aur maine sab ko dekha... chacha, tau, kisi ka beta, kisi ki beti... Toh itna jo bhandaar tha, mere dimaag mein tha. Itne saal khaali rahaa main... now I go back in my memories and bring these characters to life. Hota sab aap hi ke andar hai, lekin kured kured ke laana padta hai. Khan bhi mere andar tha... his arrogance was inside me.
Couldn’t you scream out to the world sooner that you are an amazing actor?
I was such an introvert, kya kahoon? Khud ko pesh karne ka har aadmi ka alag alag tareeka hota hai. It depends on his behaviour. The outspoken guy would go and brag in front of the director claiming he can do anything and everything. Then there will be the guy with a recommendation letter from his uncle. As for me, I used to just go and stand in front of the director. And he would be like: ‘Kya hai?’ And I would whisper: ‘Sir main actor hoon’. ‘Toh kya karoon?’ ‘Mujhe kaam chahiye. ‘Actor hai? Dikhne se toh lagta nahin’.
So I used to go and think actor dikhne mein kaisa hona chahiye. How should an actor look? I used to look at models-turned-actors. “Haan saala yeh actor jaisa dikhta hai. Aisa kyun nahin main?’ So I started going to the gym. Ab khaane ko kuch hai nahin lekin gym kar rahe hain toh kya hoga? (Laughs) Dard hone laga, toh woh bhi chhod diya. Then actors have to be really loud: ‘Hello! How are you Sir?’ Yeh sab bilkul nahin hoti thi mere se. I used to be so scared to say I am an actor. Darr darr ke bolta tha... ki thappad naa maar de.
Any friends you made at that time who promised to cast you but didn’t keep their promise?
Even when I used to tell my friends that when they would become big directors to cast me as lead, they would say: ‘Arre, Nawaz bhai kaun dekhne aayega film?’ I would ask: ‘Aisa kyun sochta hai tu?’ And they would tell me on my face: ‘Aap hero material nahin ho!’ Toh maine poochha yeh ‘material’ kya hota hai? (Laughs out loud) Kahaan milta hai yeh ‘material’? Uski bhi jaankaari kar lenge. No one could quite say what this ‘hero material’ is. But I knew what they were saying. Someone who is six feet tall, can ride a horse and if he drives a bike, his hair would flap in the wind (laughs uncontrollably).
When an Anurag Kashyap casts you in a 30-second role of a band singer in a song (Emosanal Atyachaar in Dev. D) and then the same guy goes to you for a lead role, is it awkward? Are you like, what took you so long to see the talent in me?
Agar aapko koi aapke kaam ke liye izzat de raha hai, main toh maanta hoon sar jhukaake le lena chahiye. I am not here to take any revenge. Ki kal aapne role nahin diya, aaj de rahe hain... And the equation with Anurag has been so beautiful. He had seen me in a very tiny role in Sarfarosh and he had promised me right then jis din main kuch ho gaya, tujhe zaroor role doonga. And he kept that promise after 10 years. When he could make the films he wanted to, when he could cast whosoever he wanted to, he kept his promise. I am sure his friends must have advised him against casting someone like me. Koi nahin jaanta tha mujhe, meri Kahaani bhi nahin aayee thi. But he went out of his way to take such a huge risk. Woh bahut badi baat hai.
Do you feel a responsibility now that you have to deliver a certain quality in every outing to live up to the promise you’ve made to the audience?
Of course! Bilkul. And I want to maintain that. I do feel the pressure that I have to live up to all expectations. I just want to stay honest to my acting, to my passion.
