Nawazuddin Siddiqui talks about how working with Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh has helped him
He doesn’t want to be called a star. Nawazuddin Siddiqui prefers being called ‘an actor’. Prod him and he smiles, “I don’t even think I am an actor now. Koshish kar raha hoon ki main actor ban jaoon. I don’t think I am a star.”
A self proclaimed ‘struggler’, Nawaz has acted with all the three Khans as well as actors from the younger generation like Varun Dhawan. But he doesn’t let this distract him from his role. “An actor and a cricketer is the same. Irrespective of whether you hit a century in the last match, you cannot feel too happy and underperform in the next match. Similarly, with my films, I start from the scratch. I am happy that people are appreciating me. But I don’t let that shift my focus from my performance. I always start from zero,” he explains.
But hasn’t sharing space with three Khans helped him in some way? “Definitely, it has helped me a lot,” he continues, “Working with the Khans has benefited my small films. When I do a film with Salman, Shah Rukh or Aamir, 95% of the audience comes to watch the film. If 5% of that audience come and watch my smaller films, my other films too will become a hit. That’s possibly the biggest take away for me,” he adds.
‘Aamir didn’t recognise me’
Not many people know that Sarfarosh was Nawaz’s first role ever. “It was just a 40-second role in the film,” he rues. But he also revealed that Aamir could not recognise him while shooting for Reema Kagti’s Talaash. “I told him I had worked with him in Sarfarosh when we were shooting for Talaash. After Sarfarosh, I had also done a film Peepli Live under his banner. But tab maine unko bataya nahi tha,” he smiles.
‘SRK se mila ittefaq se!’
Nawaz will be seen with Shah Rukh in Raees. He reveals, “I have already shot for one schedule of the film. I play the role of a cop and my character too is based in Gujarat. We start shooting for the Ahmedabad portions from September. Shah Rukh is an amazing co-star to work with. I had many scenes to shoot with him. He takes care of you and is very grounded. He is a thorough professional as well.”
But this isn’t the first time Nawaz met the superstar. He recalls a previous incident, “I had met him by chance last year. He was going to shoot for Happy New Year and I was going to Chicago for my shoot. So, I was sitting in the lounge where I slept. Suddenly, someone was calling me. When I opened my eyes, I saw it was SRK. I was shocked and then we had a talk. He told me he’s going to New York and then he asked me to meet when free. It was a really sweet gesture.”
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