The Unlikely Hero

A riveting personal memoir of a gifted actor hits stands this month

You don’t have to be a Bollywood buff to have taken notice of Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s skyrocketing trajectory. Through Siddiqui’s several onscreen guises – be it the epic Faizal Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur, Shaikh in The Lunchbox to Liak in Badlapur, he’s had us all hooked. Siddiqui’s unquestionably convincing performances and the ability to slip into characters like second skin has made him rise above the average chocolate boy at the movies. There is very little known about his personal journey, one that was far from easy. Writer, journalist and former foreign correspondent Rituparna Chatterjee chooses to engage in an extensive process of retrospection, shadowing the actor and unraveling his struggles in the memoir An Ordinary Life.

GRAZIA: How did this project come about?