‘I’D LIKE TO PLAY MUGHALEAZAM’S SALIM’

Says Nawazuddin Siddiqui about his dream role if the classic is ever remade; also talks about working in the Bal Thackeray biopic

Nawazuddin Siddiqui will begin shooting for Thackeray, in June, based on the life of the late politician Bal Thackeray. His first look for the film was out some time ago and was well received on social media. Talking about his approach while portraying the Shiv Sena supremo on screen, he says, “As for the look, that is the make-up artists’ department and it’s absolutely left to their skills. I’m getting great responses for it. We received around four million views (on social media) in a day. For that matter, even speaking like him is something that a mimic can also imitate. What’s difficult is to imbibe someone’s thought process and internalising their traits. My concern is to justify the role on screen, and for that I’ve watched several videos featuring him, so far.”

Ask him about his initial reaction when he was offered the role, and the actor says, “I think for anyone the first thought would have been that he was such a strong personality and to play him as closely as possible. And at end of the day, I am an artist. I will take up any character if I find it interesting and challenging.”

Do film-makers have to be extra careful about a story, and projection of it’s characters, especially if a film deals with a political background? “It’s a film at the end of the day. There are unnecessary controversies about anything related to a film these days. If a director wants to make a film on a subject, that is his or her freedom of expression. But not just film-makers, a writer, a painter or any artist should also be able to exercise their freedom of expression. However, it’s true that filmmakers, these days, are more careful,” he says.

Talking about the thrills of playing real-life characters, he says, “I didn’t have any reference point while I was shooting for Manto, which is based on the life of Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto. There weren’t any footages to watch and imbibe characteristics from. So, performance wise, you can take a little bit of liberty, and have your interpretation of the character. As for Thackeray, there are many footages available. So, the challenge like I said is to internalise his thought process.”

And is there a dream role that he would like to essay? “I’d like to play Salim, which was played by Dilip (Kumar) sahab in Mughal-e-Azam (1960),” says Nawazuddin.