Want to become Bollywood's highest paid actor: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

The irony is inescapable. The man waving out, pretty girlfriend in tow on the poster overhead, is the same man trying to hail a taxi without being identified.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, in his own words and very appropriately, describes himself as a "kaala kaluta", who cannot boast of a physique, looks or personality that fit the image of a quintessential Bollywood hero. He rather boasts of how easily he becomes one in a crowd. As posters of Gangs of Wasseypur II flood Mumbai’s skyline, the real Nawaz is unbelievably distinct from the reel gun-toting, pot-smoking, Faizal Khan; expletive-spewing, bad-tempered Inspector Khan (Kahaani) and even the gritty journalist from Peepli [Live].

After chasing Nawaz for almost a month, we nearly fixed a date for an interaction. I got a taste of his genuinely warm real persona after we couldn’t do an interview because of an unseen personal tragedy.  "Its ok…just take care..hope everything will b fine…(sic)" was a text message that confirmed this man had more humility than most of our stars known for ill tempers and tantrums that put unruly children to shame.

A week later, we finally settle for a chat in a running cab as the busy actor has other commitments.

In a world where nobody who is a somebody cares to talk to you without going through the high-handedness of PR agents or managers, Nawaz is an exception. He has none. An actor handling his own dates and interview commitments is unheard of. Has he never felt the need of hiring someone to do the work? Doesn’t it play havoc while shooting, doing promotions? "So far I’ve been handling my own affairs. Since Gangs I released the phone hasn’t stopped buzzing. People have been calling or texting every now and then praising my work. It gets a little irritating especially when I’m shooting. It’s a disturbance, yes, as it interrupts my work as an actor. All I want to do is my job. I’m still getting used to the sudden attention."

The going wasn’t always this easy for Nawaz, born in a small town "B-U-D-H-A-N-A” (he spells out lest I miss it) in Uttar Pradesh in a family of farmers. "In my gaav, only three things work, gehu (wheat), ganna (sugarcane) aur gun," he says matter-of-factly.

"It is a lawless land where honour killings are very common. The last time I went home there were six murders in 7 days. It was this fear that made me and my siblings (7 brothers and 2 sisters) look for a meaningful existence outside Muzaffarnagar district. The opportunities for education weren’t too many but we managed somehow." Having experienced the gun culture at close quarters, Nawaz admits it helped him play GOW II’s Faisal Khan with conviction.

Nawaz’s resume included jobs as a chief chemist and watchman, when the acting bug bit him. Smitten by theatre, he joined a group and since "theatre main paisa nahi hota" he kept doing odd jobs. Later he enrolled himself in the National School of Drama passing out in 1996. After working in Delhi for four years, he eventually moved to Mumbai in 2000.

"Since nothing was working out financially in Delhi, I thought I’d act in TV serials in Mumbai. It wasn’t easy to get work here too. For 4-5 years I did a lot of little roles, crowd scenes. Around this time cinema was taking a turn for the better. Directors like Anurag Kashyap were making films like Black Friday. Slowly I started getting work I could be proud of. In the past 3-4 years I’ve done some 9 films which have me in important, central characters," he says pensively reminiscing his struggler days. He is now only happy that with unconventional looks and pure talent he was able to prove his detractors wrong.

His parents still live in Budhana, making a 40km trip to Muzaffarnagar to watch their son on the big screen every time he has a big release. "They came to Mumbai recently. But they’re rural people, used to open spaces. They don’t like it much over here." He makes no qualms about his hard-up background, crediting his struggle for the being grounded at this stage of his professional life where recognition is no more an elusive dream.

Nawaz has at least eight more releases coming up this year after GOW II. "I play Jethu in Dekh Indian Circus which is a satirical take on rural India’s every day struggle. In Miss Lovely, I play Sonu, a filmmaker producing B grade films along with my brother. We both fall in love with one of our actresses. In Chittagong, I play a freedom fighter. Then there is Aatma with Bipasha Basu which is still under production. She may be known for her glamour but in Aatma she has worked very hard and people will notice the change,” he says. He refuses to divulge much about Aamir Khan-starring and produced thriller Talaash in which he is playing an “important’ role. The actor who doesn’t want to particular act with any Bollywood actor is all praise for Aamir’s work ethic.

Nawaz believes a good actor won’t go unnoticed for long and does his best to introduce new talent to the right contacts. Making rounds of international film festivals is not new to Nawaz. With no designers willing to provide him a suit, Nawaz takes care of that also himself. He is yet to receive the respect due to him as an actor. Very slyly he takes a dig at superstars, "I want to become the highest paid actor. Not because of the money but because of my acting talent."

Amen to that.

Read full Q&A here