‘REALISTIC FILMS? IT’S ALL A FRAUD’

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui says Bollywood often celebrates and propagates below-average films as good, realistic cinema

Last year, several films inspired by real-life events released, many of which enjoyed box office success and critical acclaim. But Nawazuddin Siddiqui isn’t impressed.

The actor says, “Realistic cinema ke naam pe bohot bada fraud chal raha hai. (There is a huge fraud going on in the name of reality cinema.) A lot of films are celebrated in the industry in the name of realistic cinema but they’re all below average.”

Ask him to name a film deserving of the title, and he says: “I recently saw the film, The Court, and that’s what I call real and mature cinema.”

The 42-year-old, known for his roles in films such as Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012), The Lunchbox (2013), Badlapur (2015) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), hopes that this situation will improve soon. “Right now, Bollywood is in the reshuffling phase and maybe it will settle down. But as of now, there is a lot of confusion between actors and directors.”

Has the National Awardwinning actor (for films such as Talaash: The Answer Lies Within and Kahaani) achieved his worth in the film industry? “It’s too early for me to question myself about that. If you look at my career, it all actually started in 2012 and I still have a few years to think about something like this,” he says.

While actors like Irrfan, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone have taken up international projects, Siddiqui doesn’t look at it as a benchmark. The actor believes that good acting takes precedence over the nature of a project. “A lot of actors in the past have also done Hollywood films but now such projects are talked about a lot more because of good marketing. Actors are hiring agents and PR persons there and here, to increase their value. It’s not important to bag international projects, but to make the world see how good you are as an actor in that film. The number of projects also doesn’t matter,” he says.

Realistic cinema ke naam pe bohot bada fraud chal raha hai... I saw the film, The Court, and that’s what I call real and mature cinema It’s not important to bag international projects, but to show the world how good you are as an actor in that film NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI, ACTOR