Nawazuddin Siddiqui faced many rejections and struggled for over a decade as an actor in Bollywood. He persisted through small roles and jobs to gain experience and screen time. Over time, as he became more confident in his abilities and Indian cinema evolved, he began to get lead roles and critical acclaim, winning several awards for his performances. Despite his newfound success, he remains humble and credits the changing tastes of audiences rather than himself.
2. I was a Rejected Actor!
• It has taken him 12 years for
Bollywood understand the man
called Nawaz.
• Slowly stepping into lead-actor
roles, the man from the little-
known town of Budhana, Uttar
Pradesh, has acted in all the
major films of Bollywood in
recent times – Black Friday, New
York, Peepli Live, Kahani, Gangs
of Wasseypur, Talaash.
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3. Nawazuddin Siddiqui
in talks with
Times of India
• National Award-winning
actor Nawazuddin
Siddiqui on his frustration
during his years of
struggle, his helplessness
during public
appearances and
interviews, and why that
won't stop him from
giving even more of them
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4. Rejected several Times
• Itna zyada rejection hua, toh frustration bahut hoti thi
• "Gussa sirf isliye aata tha kyunki main trained actortha,
aur trained actor ko lagta hai ki maine toh training li
hai, mujhe kaam kyun nahin mil raha?
• That would frustrate me. I'd distribute my picture and
bio data, but no one would call. I'd audition, but they
wouldn't get what this guy was doing in the audition.
And others around me got work."
• "Apne aas-paas ke logon ko kaam milte dekh
ek jealousy bhi hoti hai aur frustration bhi, ki mujhe
kyun kaam nahin mil raha. Main naam toh nahin
loonga, lekin jab mere saamne bahut saare
log star ban gaye thay, aur mera kuch nahin ho raha
tha, woh gap bahut lamba ho gaya - 7-8 saal ka gap ho
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5. Did not Have Money
• I'd do small jobs, stand in the crowd in a show, because you
do need money to survive in Bombay. It wasn't as if my
parents could send me money, they didn't have that much.
• I would go do an ad sometimes, play one of 10-15 small
characters,lekin camera jaise aa raha hai toh muh chhupa liya
ki koi dekh bhi na le, ki saala yeh tohtraining le ke gaya tha,
kya kar raha hai yeh.
• But when the evening ended, we would get some cash, of
which we had to pay half to the coordinator because we
didn't have a junior artiste card. Tab bahut zyada hoti thi
khundak," Nawaz says heatedly.
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7. 15-second roles only
• I got calls only for one-minute, one-and-a-half-
minute roles. I did them at first, because I had
no option
• All I needed was footage. I did not get the
screen space I needed. I'd started with a 15-
second role, and my aspiration was a two-
minute role. For many years, I did not get that
two-minute role
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8. Frustrated but did not lose heart
• "Doosri baat yeh thi ki
itna rejection hua, itna
zyada rejection hua,
uski wajah
se frustrationbhi bahut
hoti thi.
• But I became more
confident about my
work. All I needed was
footage
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10. And the Winning!
• Nawazuddin recently got a Special Jury Award at
the National Film Awards for four films - Kahaani,
Gangs Of Wasseypur, Dekh Indian
Circus and Talaash.
• From about the time of Gangs' boisterous
reception at Cannes last year, he's been in great
demand for both roles and interviews, getting
more visibility in a couple of years than he'd ever
dreamed of.
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11. Still he is down to earth…
gives credit to people taste not to himself
• So, how did fortune change?
Kuchh saal pehle, I was looked down upon as a
rejected actor. But then, Indian cinema changed.
• A lot of young directors started experimenting
with films over the past three years.
• New actors also eventually found a foothold in
the industry. Those who were not taken seriously
before, were being taken seriously.
• I got to enjoy the fruits of this change.
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12. Summary in one Sentence
• "Pursue your dreams, no
matter how much pain
you have to take, no
matter how much time it
will take, but when you
finally reach it, that's
your destination and
that's when you can say I
HAVE ACHIEVED
EVERYTHING" because
for you everything was
ur DREAM !!
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