NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI 38
“YOU CAN DESCRIBE MY village as ganna, gehun aur goli ( sugarcane, wheat and bullet),” says Nawazuddin Siddiqui, 38. He could well be talking about Wasseypur, and his role as the drug- addled, gun- toting mafia don Faisal Khan in Anurag Kashyap’s hit films, Gangs of Wasseypur I and II. “There are many Wasseypurs in India. My village is one,” he says, of Budhana, Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh. Electricity is a luxury in this village of 33,000 people and even an hour’s uninterrupted supply is cause for celebration. Dacoity, murder and honour killings are commonplace. As part of a large family of farmers— he is the oldest of seven brothers and two sisters— he worked in the family’s fields, and tended their cattle, while growing up.
Two of his films, Gangs of Wasseypur and Miss Lovely, were shown at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, but acting wasn’t on his mind when he passed out of DAV Inter College, Budhana. He moved to Haridwar to study chemistry at Gurukul Kangri University, and then to
BUDHANA, UTTAR PRADESH
Actor Vadodara as chief chemist at a petrochemical factory. A friend took him to watch a play and he recalls thinking “yeh sahi cheez hai ( this is the real deal)”. He joined Delhi’s National School of Drama in 1993, and shifted to Mumbai in 2000, that ushered in a long period of struggle, that only turned in 2010 with his role in Peepli [ Live].
Today, he has 13 films that either await release or are ready to be shot. Earlier, he’d be paid Rs 500- Rs 1,000 a day for bit roles. In the last two years, his earnings have risen eight times, “and a thousand times overall”.
Even now, home remains his inspiration. As a child, he mimicked those around him. “Film people have rarely seen the world outside. I’ve seen the characters I play, for real.”
It was a childhood crush on a girl next door that propelled Siddiqui to his profession. Her conservative Muslim family made it difficult for him to approach her. When he managed, though, she chose to ignore him for a TV serial. Spurned, he promised to appear on TV one day. And when he finally did, he asked a friend back home to remind her, but unfortunately she was married by then. That, of course, is just a footnote, for Bollywood’s latest shooting star is now happily married, with 20- month- old daughter Shora bringing joy to his life.