Not necessary to contest elections to contribute my bit: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been travelling across the Hindi heartland, keeping a tab on the mood of the nation as it goes to polls this month.
In his new role of a news anchor, the actor has been talking to the common man and has also interviewed politicians like Akhilesh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shatrughan Sinha, Vasundhra Raje Scindia and Rajnath Singh. “While traversing the six cities of Varanasi, Lucknow, Patna, Jaipur and Delhi, what I realised was that a change of government does not affect the lives of people who are scrambling to make ends meet.Woh aaj bhi sabzi bech rahe hain, kal bhi bechenge,” says Nawazuddin talking about his experience.
“What I also realised is that development does not necessarily only mean better roads or coming up with malls. Development of the mind of the common man is equally important, and that comes with education. They can use their right to vote sensibly only if they are aware. In fact, our political parties want that the masses should remain uneducated so that they can easily mislead them,” he says.
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As an actor trying to understand Indian politics, Nawazuddin feels that winning is no big deal for abhinetas turned netas. “But the journey begins after that.What is really important is how much these stars work for the area they are elected from,” he adds, “Whether they are able to raise issues of their constituency in the Parliament – which they seldom do, is really vital. The political parties cash in on actors’ popularity and even the actors’ are quite comfortable with this arrangement. But stars with political inclinations should get into politics full time. Aisa nahi hona chahiye ki aadha paunBollywood mein ho aur aadhapolitics mein. Phir aap na idhar ke rehte ho na udhar ke.”
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While Nawaz has an opinion on most things political, his new job has been quite a challenging one. “This assignment was a big challenge as there is no script. My own observations of the cities I visited and the people I met, formed the script for the show, with no scope for rehearsals. It was quite contrary to what I am used to as an actor. With scripts at our disposal much ahead of the schedule, a pattern is followed in films, where we work in a much more organised manner; for this show I had to be on the busy streets, talking to people. But it was a satisfying experience, for I was able to bring forth the voice of the common man, so at least somebody should hear it. It is not necessary that I should contest elections to contribute my bit,” he says.
WATCH: Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a scene from Lunchbox