24 Things You Should Know About Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is one of the finest and seasoned actors in Bollywood right now, who is well-known for his power-packed performances in movies such as “Sarfarosh” (1999), “Black Friday” (2007), “New York” (2009), “Peepli Live” (2010) “Kahaani” (2012), “the “Gangs of Wasseypur” series (2012), “The Lunchbox” (2013), “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” (2015) ending with the latest release “Thackeray” (2019). However, Siddiqui didn’t have his luck and fortune handed out to him on a silver plate.  Therefore, here are ten things that you should know about Nawzuddin Siddiqui :

1. Nawzuddin Siddiqui belongs to a Muslim family of farmers in Budhana, Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh. He was the eldest of eight siblings, and they had to compromise on wealth and luxuries for education. Only three things were familiar to him back then – the cultivation of wheat and sugarcane and the gun culture.

2. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar. He has even worked as a chief chemist at a petrochemical company in Vadodara and later moved to Delhi to earn a living as a watchman at various place in Delhi.

3. There were no theatres in Siddiqui’s village when he was a teenager – in fact, the nearest theatre was about 45 kilometres away! He had only watched five to six movies in his childhood but would re-enact movie scenes before the mirror. He would watch C-grade movies in a makeshift cinema hall that was right across his native village.

4. The first play Nawzuddin had watched was Vijaydan Detha’s “Uljhan”, which was then performed by the Sakshi Group. Manoj Bajpai had played the lead role in the same, and Nawzuddin joined the same group when he was older.

5. Nawzuddin was attracted to acting while watching a play in Delhi. Inspired, he joined the National School of Drama in Delhi itself and graduated from the institute in 1996. He decided to move to Mumbai to try his hand at acting. Times were tough; he would only eat a packet of Parle-G biscuits for lunch and did not have the money to pay the rent.

6. Nawzuddin would be part of a few advertisements on television before he got his first break. However, he performed with his back to the camera so that nobody could guess that an NSD graduate was working in advertisements.

7. He made his Bollywood debut as an unnamed terrorist in the Aamir Khan-starrer “Sarfarosh” (1999) and did small roles in several other movies. He shared a room with four other people and managed to survive by conducting acting workshops.

8. One of his scenes in “New York” (2009) where he shares his account as a wrongly accused and tortured terrorist after the 9/11 attack in America, was one of his best. In fact, the critically acclaimed actor Irrfan Khan was moved to tears after watching this particular scene.

9. Nawzuddin has acted in a feature film called “Patang” (2011) as well, which is a story about the largest kite festival set in Ahmedabad. He has been praised by the renowned film critic Robert Egert as well.

10. Nawzuddin made a major impression with his character Faizal Khan in the “Gangs of Wasseypur” series in 2012, which really brought him out as an actor. At the time of Nawzuddin’s childhood, honour killings and murders were quite a common occurrence – which prepared him for the role. Today, he is the brand ambassador of the Samajwadi Kisan Beema Yojana.

11. He believes that he is the most conventional-looking actor in Bollywood, as he just looks like the most of us. In fact, he says that most heroes who are tall, fair and handsome seem to be more unconventional as the majority of people do not look like them.

12. Nawzuddin has played the role of Dashrath Manjhi in the biographical movie “Manjhi: The Mountain Man” (2015). He had the image of a wild stallion in mind while acting, and preferred to use a real axe for digging instead of using a prop.

13. Anjali and Siddiqui were in a live-in relationship during his acting days, but it was described as a tumultuous one. Though his first marriage to Sheeba did not work out, the former couple got back together years after his divorce. Presently, Siddiqui now lives his brother Shamas Nawab Siddiqui, Anjali and two children.

14. Nawzuddin and veteran actor Rishi Kapoor had an argument when Nawaz commented that most romantic actors do nothing more than run around trees and romance the actresses. Kapoor was upset at this and slammed Siddiqui by saying that it is easy to sing songs and romance the leading actresses. He went ahead by saying that Siddiqui did not have the talent to ‘dance around the trees’ like many of his contemporaries do.

15. Speaking of contemporaries, Siddiqui and Irrfan Khan do not speak to each other since the release of the movie “The Lunchbox” (2013). Though both of them refuse to talk about the issue, they have been seen ignoring each other. When a newspaper asked Siddiqui about the four Khans of Bollywood, Siddiqui promptly chose Saif Ali Khan over Irrfan Khan saying that the former is ‘a bigger star’.

16. Nawzuddin was once known to suspect his wife Anjali, according to the news channel India TV. The mater came to light when the police arrested eleven detectives for illegally sourcing Anjali’s call records and spying on her.

17. Even after achieving stardom in the movies, Siddiqui has remained extremely humble and down-to-earth. Even if he sees a group of people coming towards him, he automatically assumes that the attention is for someone else and walks away. In fact, he doesn’t even have a PR team or manager and prefers to handle his own interviews.

18. Nawzuddin has been known to engage in a fight with his neighbour. The actor would park his car in the area that was designated to two-wheelers, and this had led to an argument with a young woman. A complaint was filed against when Siddiqui allegedly slapped the 24-year-old woman, Heena Shaikh. However, Siddiqui maintains that the whole incident was planned against him as he does not even know who Shaikh is.

19. Siddiqui has revealed intimate details of his relationship with his ex-girlfriend Sunita Rajwar in his memoir ‘An Ordinary Life: A Memoir’. Rajwar slapped a defamation notice on Siddiqui for defaming her and causing her mental agony. Though Siddiqui has claimed that he was referring to a different Sunita in the book, Rajwar says that the description of the ‘Pahari girl who was an NSD graduate, and the flatmate of the popular actress Achint Kaur’ referred to herself.

20. Siddiqui took on the role of the feared serial killer of the 1960s Mumbai, Raman Raghav, in the movie “Raman Raghav 2.0” (2016). His performance was so good that The Hollywood Reporter compared the same to Anthony Hopkins. Anthony Hopkins had played the role of the cannibalistic serial killer Dr Hannibal Lecter in the movie “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991).

21. Siddiqui’s memoir describes his childhood, acting days and personal relationships. The book was published on 25 October 2017 but soon sparked a controversy due to the intimate depiction of his brief affair with the “Miss Lovely” co-star Niharika Singh.

22. Niharika Singh accused Siddiqui of tarnishing her reputation, saying that the actor has distorted many important facts. She says that it was a mere fleeting relationship, whereas Siddiqui has written that the relationship lasted for one and a half years.

23. Though Siddiqui has mentioned that he had never kissed his wife, his first screen on-screen was with Singh in “Miss Lovely”. After Singh’s lodged a complaint, the memoir was withdrawn a few days after its publication.

24. Siddiqui considers Ashish Vidyarthi to be his role model, and he considers the role of Salim from the movie “Mughal-e-Azam” (1960) to be his dream role.

Therefore, these are the things that you should know about Nawzuddin Siddiqui. Though he has had his share of professional and personal issues in life, his acting talents don’t need a certificate of approval. He will be seen in the biographical political-drama “Thackeray” in the role of Balasaheb Thackeray himself. Furthermore, he will be seen in the science-fiction “Krrish 4” in 2020.

Feature Image Source : DNAIndia

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