CIFF: Nawazuddin Siddiqui says whether essaying real characters or fictional, the challenges remain the same

He is certainly a man of the moment. Once, gifted actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui might have been in danger of getting lost in the bheed but today he stands out. Not only in his exceptional filmography, which boasts of eight films making it to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, but right here in City Beautiful, swarmed by admirers and a full house session.

Of course, at the ongoing four-day Cinevesture International Film Festival, he chooses to talk about Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, hailing the film for making India shine. On his own films, right from Gangs of Wasseypur to The Lunchbox to Photograph to Miss Lovely shining on the world map, he won’t say much. Actually, talking euphemistically about his own self bores him. Praise makes him awkward. But what doesn’t is sharing snapshots of his amazing life.

Thus, be at the session conducted by Siddharth Hussain GM Creative, Bhanushali Studios or in an exclusive chitchat, he is more than willing to go down memory lane.

Indeed, back in time when he was getting small parts and ‘mostly getting beaten up in films’, his family in his village Budhana in UP was quite aghast, even somewhat embarrassed. It was only after he became the lead, Faizal Khan in Anurag Kashyap’s much-feted Gangs of Wasseypur 2, that he got a hero’s welcome in his village.

The journey to play these stellar parts has not been easy. He recalls those early days of struggle when he had to cook, wash clothes and scrub utensils. What’s more, those were the days when all the four roommates, aspiring actors, would land at the same audition. Today, as his plate is full and he will soon be seen in the sequel of Honey Trehan’s Raat Akeli Hai, and I am Not An Actor, he chooses films on the basis of not just the script but also his character’s complexity and depth.

Of course, he would not let his personal ideology cloud his selection. Thus, he had no qualms in playing both Balasaheb Thackeray and Saadat Hasan Manto almost simultaneously. Essaying real characters or fictional, challenges for an actor remain the same. He observes, “What an actor desires more than anything is to be challenged.”

At CIFF, he regaled audiences with passages from Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq. Back in time, for Kabir Khan’s New York, he just took a few minutes, if not more, to memorise the entire set of dialogues. In an industry which thrives on dialogue-baazi, he believes, “Often, the unsaid is very important and what is between the lines, which conveys through its subtexts.” He would not care to make a distinction between different genres or qualify the definition of good cinema, which he insists varies from one individual to another.

As his mentor Anurag Kashyap has only recently expressed his disaffection with streaming platforms in the context of web series Adolescence, and how we can’t create such content, does he think the industry is at an inflection point and change is a must? He answers, “Change is the only constant.” Industry pundits might be going ga-ga over how conventional definitions of who fits the bill of an actor have changed dramatically, yet, he observes, “Trailblazers are only few.”

For someone who has battled the conventional versus unconventional looks debate for a major part of his life, time spent at NSD made him reflect and accept himself as he is. He says, “I don’t really understand how I am unconventional, for millions look like me. Rather, I would say Hrithik Roshan is unconventional.”

Conventional or not, he can take a bow for turning around many known conventions of acting. So it was not only on the stage that he stood tall, even in the starry world of glamour he can be counted as one of our very best.

Team Black Warrant shines

Two-and-half months ago, Black Warrant dropped on Netflix and it continues to be among the top 10 shows! As its lead stars Zahan Kapoor and Rahul Bhat, along with its acclaimed showrunner Vikramaditya Motwane and Sameer Nair, CEO Applause Entertainment, came calling on day three of Cinevesture International Film Festival, their synergy was more than evident.

Undeniably, the same chemistry would have prevailed on the sets. Bhat, seen as DSP Tomar in the series, in fact, shared how the days of actors dominating, kha jaunga their co-actors, are long over. He added, “Those who still believe in outdoing each other are frauds and not genuine actors.” Thus both he and Zahan helped bring out the best in each other. On the process of getting into the skin of a negative character, Bhat said, “Even if you are playing a villain, you have to be empathetic; it’s like you are representing him, you are his lawyer.”

If Bhat, who started his journey with television series Heena, only performs for his director, Zahan goes an extra mile. Involved in the making of the series from the word go, the young actor even made notes for every single scene of the seven-episode series. “Shooting for 51 days for five different directors, that too in a non-linear manner, was like a whiplash,” Zahan asserted.

Indeed, from the makers’ point of view, Motwane agreed, “Many directors with one showrunner is a model that truly works well and has proved its efficacy the world over.” Nair chipped in with classic refrain, “It takes a village to make a film and raise a child.” Of course, when the child already has a parent, the author, in this case Sunil Gupta, on whose memoirs of Tihar jail, the series is based, things could get complicated. Motwane agreed that reading a book for pleasure and for adaptation were two different beasts. “So, you often have to dramatise the proceedings.” As Nair put it, “On the face, it was counter-intuitive to make a series on Tihar jail with literally no strong women characters. Yet, Netflix loved it.” And so did the audiences!

Sh…indie is the buzzword!

It was the ‘Sh’ session that kick-started the star-studded line-up on the third day of CIFF. As senior journalist and festival director of New York Film Festival, Aseem Chhabra shared, “All the panellists’ names start with Sh — Shweta Tripathi, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Shashank Arora. Hence the name.”

The conversation centred on indie films and what it meant to be an indie actor; the young panellists articulated their thoughts in wise words. For Shweta, who has thrived in the nurturing ecosystem of indie film sets, an indie actor is someone ‘who is not afraid—not afraid of challenges, of experimentation’.

For Shriya, being an indie actor is a state of mind, where the collective effort is to see a project through. For Shashank, it means experimentation with no pressure to sell. However, for Shashank a film is a film and an actor is an actor. Indie or commercial, his job remains the same. Shweta, who has films like Masaan, Haraamkhor, Mirzapur, Made in Heaven and more to her credit, likes working with debut directors because she finds the passion of new directors infectious. “What happens behind the camera is a great learning experience,” she says.

Shriya, who has acted in Mirzapur, Guilty Minds and The Broken News, said she valued a good working experience on set. “An environment where everyone serves the script with no selfish agenda,” she shared. To Shashank, the actor of Titli, Manto, Made in Heaven and Super Boys of Malegoan, indie films brings him sanity. Shweta will soon be seen in films like Mirzapur and web series Mirzapur Season 4, and the latest season of Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein, while Shriya will be seen in two indie films. Shashank, who talked about his upcoming film Gangster Newton, which involves plenty of physics, took a cue from Aseem’s comment that Shashank is officially Kamal Hassan’s favourite, and made an appeal, “I am Kamal Hassan’s favourite. Please give me work!” — Parbina Rashid