The actor nominated for Best Actor for ‘Serious Men’ discusses what inspires him and why he finds the process rewarding for a character, even if it comes at a personal cost
When Nawazuddin Siddiqui breathed life into Faizal Khan in Anurag Kashyap’s bloody work, gangs of wasseypur (2012), not only did it set the benchmark for ‘good acting’ but was also widely regarded as the performance of the decade that put him on the map.
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Faizal Khan must have been a cup of poison for Nawaz. For a stream of similarly villainous characters, expect to smoke Hemp And massacred people, and soon he would be suffering the onslaught of the Nawazuddin Siddiqui problem – being typecast in a role that can only be described as something conceived and written for him.
But a question that remained on everyone’s lips. Everyone exiting the cinema hall gangs of wasseypur Can Nawaz ever top it? The answer, as it turned out, was a resounding yes. This happened for the second time, once again with Anurag Kashyap in 2016, when Raman Raghav 2.0 Released, in which Nawazuddin explores the deceitful corners of the mind of a psychopathic killer. This is not an exaggeration; he beat himself for the third time sacred games (2018), Fourth in manto (2019), and has since beaten himself into what appears to be a one-man marathoner.
Cutting across the body, styles, scale and dimensions of a work as large and diverse as his own, does Nawaz ever feel a sense of boredom doing it all? is that Even then Get characters that inspire him to do better?
“It’s a really great question,” says Nawaz over the video call. “Each character presents a new challenge. But if I start thinking that I can play all kinds of characters, I will lose my limits. So, I always feel that this is the character that I am playing for the first time. “
In the same breath, Nawaz admits that he is always on the lookout for characters that cause him panic at best, challenge him at worst – “Otherwise, I will repeat myself. Personally, I prefer characters that come with complications and have an inner world. I’m not interested in a very specific hero or villain; I want them to trigger something inside where the process of finding out who this person is is a gray area.”
One such character in the gray zone was last year’s Ayaan Mani. serious man, for which he has now been nominated at the 2021 International Emmy Awards for Best Actor. serious man To represent at the prestigious event is Nawaz’s third assignment.
Nawaz says that being validated for his work boosts his confidence to better himself, provided it comes from trusted people or bodies. “this is [validation] very important; It shows that you are on the right track and you have made the right choice.”
Based on the novel by Manu Joseph, the film directed by Sudhir Mishra is a satire and a sharp look at caste and its subsequent social order, and centers around Ayyan Mani, who creates a story about his son Adi, Joe is a genius boy – go back to the oppressors of the system. When he got the offer to play the role, he felt that Mani was his mirror-image, as Nawaz says that he too has seen the things discussed in the film.
“Ayan Mani is the one who is close to my heart; Really close to my life. I have also felt what Mani feels in the novel, the film. There are many people like him in our society. It’s a very local film in that sense, which is why it speaks volumes globally.”
Being Nawaz
Nawaz believes that there is a reason why he came into the industry. “It’s for acting,” he puts it succinctly. But Nawaz is firm on one thing that keeps him moving forward. It is the process of discovering the character – whether it is new facets or facets. He says that he would not have become an actor if it were not for this process.
Nawaz has neither fear nor is he afraid to run out of options, given the buffet of characters he has already brought on screen. “For each character, I try to find something different about him. It doesn’t matter whether the film plays or not, I keep searching for my character. That’s why I live among people.”
He explains his principle of ‘living with the people’. Nawaz believes that so far his acting has been appreciated for his authenticity Since He considers himself one of the common people and is not far from them. They believe that they tell them the nuances of their characters. “They look at me and relate to themselves.”
“It helps that I don’t see myself as a ‘star.’ Because the day I feel like I’m one, then I feel disconnected from people.”
As deep as Nawaz likes to dive into finding the rhythm for his characters, even to the extent of hurting himself in the process of ensuing, he believes in the trade-off where the characters take something in return. Says Nawaz, “It is my belief that whenever I play a character, I feel that something is lost in me forever.”
To further his point, he has given an example of Raman Raghav 2.0 And what effect did it have on his life after the release of the film. The character left him in the dark and he could not talk to anyone for almost a month. He felt empty. Only then did I realize.
“I was traveling with this person [Raman Raghav character] For about three-four months and a day, he suddenly disappeared from my life. I felt that something had been stolen from within me, rather it was stolen.”
manto There was another movie that scared him. “The process sometimes becomes very painful. During manto, I started speaking nothing but the truth, which impressed the people around me. I felt pressure and abuses were thrown at me. I realized later that I don’t want to be Manto in life. Lying is important in life,” he laughs.
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So how does Nawaz react to the often humble allegations, holding him in high esteem for being an actor who hasn’t made a single shoddy performance in a career spanning two decades? Nawaz smiles as he mentions this, before taking some time to collect his thoughts. “Of course, when I give a poor performance, I feel guilty,” he says.
Does it come from a place of humility or did he read the question wrong? Nawaz intervenes at this point, saying, “Frankly, I know my job because I am a trained actor. Even though I come with a lot of experience, I know how to be wrong or have a different kind of character. There is a possibility to explain. But he said, I am what I am today because of my great directors.”
In 2022, Nawaz has several releases which include Bole bangles, bayonet And no man’s land to mention a few. “There are no plans to be honest,” he said when asked where his career was headed. He ends with an optimistic tone: “What these two years of the pandemic have made me realize is to live and live in the moment. And there should be happiness too.”
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