NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI IN A LEAGUE OF ONE'S OWN

The actor, who will be next seen in a cop avatar in Zee5's Rautu Ka Raaz, talks about the lack of originality in Bollywood, the portrayal of toxic masculinity on screen, the importance of representation in casting, and why he thinks independent cinema is India's best bet to reach international audience

- Ananya Ghosh

Over the years, there have been three things that remained constant about my conversations with Nawazuddin Siddiqui-my struggle with Hindi, his struggle with English, and the universal language of pure passion with which he talks about his work, every single time.

The actor, who after spending a decade playing bit roles, became the talk of the town with his breakthrough act as Faizal Khan in Anurag Kashyap's 2012 film Gangs of Wasseypur. The next decade saw him establish himself as one of the country's greatest actors. But success, failure, stardom, critics' words, paparazzi, politics, slander, absolutely nothing has come between the actor and his craft-his love for his craft remains unwavering, unadulterated, and unaffected by the trappings of showbiz. In fact, even the last time we had met, exactly one year back, he was categorical: "Neither have I got used to fame nor am I comfortable with the celebrity tag. Acting is the biggest joy of my life. It transports me to a different world-it is a world of characters and not tags-and that's the world I like to stay in. I am happy being just an artiste."