This Article is From Jul 16, 2015

Nawazuddin Siddiqui: The Farmer's Son Who Became Bollywood's Most Wanted

Nawazuddin Siddiqui: The Farmer's Son Who Became Bollywood's Most Wanted

Nawazuddin Siddiqui photographed at an event in Mumbai.

New Delhi: The New York Times describes Ant-Man star Paul Rudd as 'the MSG of actors' - in Bollywood, that term could well be applied to Nawazuddin Siddiqui: every movie is made better with him in it. And yet, this is a discovery relatively recently made by Bollywood and, in turn, the paying audience. Nawazuddin's is a story worthy of a Bollywood plot: the son of a north Indian farmer, one of nine children, rising to become one of the new faces of independent Hindi cinema.

It is a long way from his humble beginnings in Uttar Pradesh, where he became the first graduate from his village with a degree in chemistry. After training at Delhi's National School of Drama, smitten with acting, he landed his first film appearance in the 1999 Aamir Khan movie Sarfarosh, and moved to Mumbai in 2000.

The happy ending was 12 long years in the making. He struggled and appeared in bit parts, often earning little cash, before he really became established.

Nawazuddin told news agency PTI: "I did not come here (in Mumbai) thinking of becoming a Bollywood actor. I wanted to do TV. But no one gave me a chance in TV. So I started doing C-grade films for five-six years. I did one and two scenes-role. I did not dream much as it would have led to disappointment."

His pinball trajectory included blink and miss roles in films like Munna Bhai MBBS, Black Friday, Manorama Six Feet Under and Aaja Nachle. In director Anurag Kashyap's Dev D, he appeared in the song Emotional Atyachar.

And then, in 2012, everything changed. He notched up success after success starting with Kahaani. Gangs of Wasseypur, Miss Lovely and Talaash followed. There was no looking back.

Awards followed, as well as other acclaimed films such as The Lunchbox and Liar's Dice. Then, a tryst with mainstream blockbusters in the form of Salman Khan's 2014 film Kick.

The 41-year-old actor's resume currently juggles indie content, like Sriram Raghavan's dark thriller Badlapur and Ketan Mehta's Manjhi - The Mountain Man, with big ticket projects, like Salman's Bajrangi Bhaijaan which is out on Friday. He also stars with Shah Rukh Khan in next year's Raees.

The actor recently told IANS: "I enjoy doing these (commercial) films because even if five per cent of Salman's fans watch my smaller films then they will become a hit."
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