This role was difficult and disturbing: Nawazuddin Siddiqui on 'Raman Raghav 2.0'

After Manjhi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui is starring in another biopic Raman Raghav 2.0 that has him playing the notorious serial killer. The film is directed by Anurag Kashyap whose last release Bombay Velvet was a disaster. But Nawazuddin is confident that with this film Anurag will be back in a big way. “It will be a hit,” he says matter-of-fact. Completely unassuming and candid, Nawazuddin shares his thoughts on playing a dangerous personality, the after-effects and the huge fuss made around actors going to Hollywood.    

After playing Manjhi, you are doing another biopic. How difficult was it to play Raman Raghav?

Manjhi was an extraordinary story of an ordinary man. It was difficult getting into the mindset of a man who was breaking a mountain for 22 years in memory of his wife. But it was even more difficult to get inside the brain of Raman Raghav because he was not a normal man. He lived in a different world — his thoughts, his logic, his reasons for what he did were something a normal man can’t even think of.  

What was your first thought when you were offered the role?

I thought it would be a very difficult character for me to play. That man had committed some 27-30 murders! I wondered what would have been the reason.

Did you read up on him?

Yes, I knew of him and had read about him earlier. But Anurag had already done a lot of research and I worked on his reference which was so authentic. He helped me with the role.

What is the intention behind making the film?  

It’s a thriller and people will find it interesting to travel through the mindset of somebody who is not normal. They will know these kind of people also exist. That is Anurag’s speciality. He brings to screen personalities who have different thoughts and mindsets, but are human beings. We see a lot of clichéd films and characters, this will be unusual.    

Did playing the character affect you in any way?

Yes, it affected me a lot. You are not like the person you are playing, but you have to believe in him. If you have to do justice to the character, you have to go through that mindset. Sometimes it becomes dangerous. At one point, during the shooting I was hospitalised. I had fever and fell unconscious. My wife tells me that when the doctors gave me an injection, I was muttering a scene. My wife called up Anurag and told him ‘Yeh film ki linein pad rahe hai’. I think if you take from the character, the character also takes something from you.

Did it take time for you to come out of the character after the shoot was over?

I try to purge the character from my mind once the shoot is over. I go on a holiday to my hometown or elsewhere. The purpose is to leave the character   behind and make place for the next one that I will play. This role was not only difficult, but also more disturbing. I wanted to remove the character from my persona as soon as possible. I went out of town just to do normal things and lead a normal life!

What next?

I am doing an out-and-out-romantic film with Amy Jackson. The film is based on golf and I am playing a golfer. I have also shot a film with Amitabh Bachchan in which I play a priest. There’s Raees with Shah Rukh Khan which has me in the role of a cop.

Do you deliberately maintain a balance between commercial films and art cinema? 

I don’t see whether a film is commercial or arty. I go by the script, if it’s good I do it.  

Wasn’t Bajrangi Bhaijaan commercial and larger-than-life compared to Manjhi that was more realistic?

Manjhi’s plot was larger-than-life, it was about a man single-handedly breaking a mountain! It’s just impossible, who does that? As for Bajrangi Bhaijaan, the sensibility with which Kabir (Khan, director) made the film, I don’t think even the so-called realistic filmmakers could have done it like that.

Raman Raghav 2.0 will be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Does a festival screening help with the theatrical release?

As far as this film is concerned, I am confident it will be a hit. But yes, a festival screening has to benefit a film in the theatres, but it doesn’t happen in some cases, which is quite scary. There is this division that happens when a film is screened at the festival. Critics give it five stars, it gets awards too, but doesn’t run at the box-office. How can a film that is appreciated at the festival not run successfully here? It has to be liked by everybody, if not, something is lacking in the film.

Several films of yours have been screened there. You must be used to it.

Seven of my films have already been screened at Cannes and I have gone there twice. Still, I feel the same excitement as I felt when I went there for the first time.

You have done one Hollywood film with Nicole Kidman. Any more in the pipeline?

Yes, I have done one film, but mera chota-mota role hai. To do films in Hollywood you need an agent. Hollywood filmmakers don’t offer you roles based on your skill, it’s the agents who get you roles there! Now-a-days a big issue is made when actors bag roles there. But our actors from the black-and-white era like IS Johar also have been doing roles in films there. Then there’s Amrish Puri who had a substantial role in a huge film like Indian Jones, even Gulshan Grover has done Hollywood cinema. Nobody talked about them, but now even if they do small roles, it becomes big news. 

The standard of films that we make in our country is no less than the ones made in Hollywood. I am proud of our cinema. I am doing films like The Lunchbox and Gangs of Wasseypur here. What is the need to go to Hollywood?