Like most actors, his aim is to disappear into his character. And unlike most movie stars, Nawazuddin Siddiqui would like to get lost in a crowd in real life too – the equivalent maybe of Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak.
“It’s very difficult for me to make myself presentable and stand out. But I feel very good that I am sitting in a corner and no one is looking at me… Rather, I’m observing others,” Siddiqui told PTI in an interview
“I feel the world is a 70mm film and I’m watching it,” added the actor who became a star playing everyday people, be it in small roles such as in “Munnabhai MBBS” and “Peepli Live” or performances in acclaimed titles, including “The Lunchbox”, “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” and “Maanjhi”.
Siddiqui’s journey from Budhana in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh to Delhi’s National School of Drama and then to Mumbai from where he emerged as one of the Hindi film industry’s most versatile stars after a long struggle is the stuff dreams are made of.
The aspiring actor went straight from watching C-grade films to world cinema.
Growing up in Budhana, he said there were no literary or cultural influences but there was a ‘kachcha theatre’ that would mostly show C-grade movies.