Manto taught me not to judge anyone: Nawazuddin
ONCE HE IS on screen, the characters Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays feel like his second skin, inseparable from his psyche. But the actor says after playing the title role in Saadat Hasan Manto’s biopic, a part of the famed short-story writer still lives inside him; a quality he imbibed – not to be judgemental.
Siddiqui believes every time one takes up a character, it adds something to the personality of the actor but also takes something away from them.
“I feel an actor should be like water. They should take the shape of the character when poured inside the mould… What I learnt from Manto is that he never judged anyone, not even the ones in his stories.
“He always managed to find something admirable, especially in those people whom the society had rejected. I will always cherish this gift by Manto that you shouldn’t judge anybody. You never know what heights they end up achieving one day,” the actor said.
Asked what Manto took away from him, Siddiqui says the writer robbed him of his ability to put up a facade so much so that he was haunted by the habit of speaking the truth, even 15 days after he wrapped up the shooting for the Nandita Das-directed film.
“I called up Nandita and said, ‘Pull him out of me!’. It was during this time that I had become more truthful than I usually am. Many mishaps also happened with me during that period.
“I eventually realised it would be best to get all of Manto’s truthfulness out of me. He took a lot of bad qualities away from me in those 15 days, but I snatched back all of that. I thought: ‘It’s better for me to be a liar. I have got in so much trouble because of you, Manto,” he says.
The news that Siddiqui charged a token Rs1 fee from Das is viral on social media and the actor says it was a decision he took from the heart.
“You do a lot of films for money and then there are some you do for yourself. Can you decide a fee for that?” he asks.
With the phenomenal success of Sacred Games,
Siddiqui’s fans seem to have tasted blood and the actor hopes the response to the Netflix India Original series, which has been renewed for a second season, will carry the momentum for Manto forward.
I called up Nandita and said, ‘Pull him out of me!’. It was during this time that I had become more truthful than I usually am.” Nawazuddin Siddiqui