Nawazuddin Siddiqui says makers of his films can’t afford a big entourage, he doesn’t believe in ‘taam-jhaam’: ‘All this fuss doesn’t help a film’

 

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There is an ongoing chatter in the industry on how stars these days have several vanity vans and a large entourage taking care of them on set. Filmmakers, including Karan Johar, has spoken against it and have expressed concern on how the rising entourage costs are starting to affect film budgets and producers. However, Nawazuddin, on any given day at work, is almost by himself. When asked the reason behind keeping it low-key, he says, “I don’t like it. For me, one thing is clear, you have fixed a certain amount as your fees then you should do it in that much, yeh jo taam jhaam badhate hai, it is not being used in the film, toh koi matlab nahi uska (all this fuss is useless). I have always stayed away from it because humaari filmein itni badi budget ki hoti hi nahi hai (my films have never been of such big budgets), frankly speaking. Even if the budget is big I stay away from it because it is not the right thing na. It is not good for your field.”

Nawaz then talks about the kind of cinema he’s enjoyed attaching himself to in his long acting career of 25 years. He says that while he enjoys doing “small” films which tell a good story and have a great character to offer,  but he’s also worked in “big films” for the money.

His upcoming film is Zee5’s Rautu Ka Raaz, a crime mystery based in a small village of Uttarakhand, India. He says, “I do ‘small films’ because I have come here to do that only. Yes, at times I also do big films, play small roles in them, woh paise ke liye karte hai (I do that for the money). Paise milte hai acchhe usmein, taaki hum humaari chhoti filmein bana sake (you get paid well so then you can do small films).”

When asked how he maintains this balance, he says, “I make sure I am balanced that way. Periodically I review the kind of films I am doing. If I have done one big film, budget wise, then I make sure I do a couple of small films. There is not very good money in small films, so one needs to balance it out. I have been doing this from the very beginning of my career.”

He emphasises on his need to do varied kinds of films to keep him curious and interested in his profession. “I keep feeling the need to do weird stuff, because if I start doing only one kind of work I’ll get bored and I’d be forced to take up some other profession. I think, in my profession, to keep it interesting one needs to do varied roles, sometimes you become a gangster, sometimes a cop, do a biopic, sometimes play an ordinary person. I love portraying characters based on people I have seen and met, it is very interesting,” he says.

In the last couple of years Nawazuddin has been a part of films that have released directly on OTT platforms, last being Haddi with Anurag Kashyap, which dropped on Zee5 in 2023. When asked if he feels that streaming platforms are safer avenues for actors to be a part of more experiential cinema, he says, “I haven’t done much OTT. I never did web series, I did only one — Sacred Games — after that I didn’t do any web series, so I can’t take much about OTT, frankly speaking.

“But I am enjoying these films coming up on OTT. It is good that these platforms are giving good content. Desi actors are getting opportunities. Stories from our villages and small towns are being promoted. Actors like Pankaj (Tripathi), Manoj (Bajpayee) bhai, lot of their films are coming on Zee5, it is good that great actors like them are being promoted in this space,” he adds.

Nawazuddin then looks back to his career of 25 years and says he’s one of the happiest actors today because he is always offered “interesting roles”. He says, “Thanks to my directors that whenever they have brought a film to me, it has always been different, they offer me very varied characters.”

“For example, this one, Rautu Ka Raaz, where I play a cop. I have played cop thrice before this — in Kahaani, Raees, Raat Akeli Hai and now this. Only the costume is similar, the place is different, the thoughts are different, so are their souls. In Rautu Ka Raaz, a small village is shown where I play an ordinary inspector. He is lazy because that’s also the pace of the village because of which the investigation is also slow,” he concludes.