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Soon after the dubbing for director Buddhadeb Dasguptas Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa is wrapped up,its lead actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui plans to go missing till his next shooting schedule. the actor will be away from the city,family,friends and all modes of communication. for the last four years,I have been working continuously. I dont want to be a zombie. I want to live on my own for a while. Practise the craft,the way I used to earlier and come back with renewed vigour, says the actor,who is currently the poster boy of alternate Indian cinema.
This disappearing act is surprising,especially since he seemed to have enjoyed the limelight at the 66th Cannes film festival last month. Despite the adulation,he finds the brouhaha over the red-carpet glamour in the french riviera a bit over the top,but Siddiqui is getting used to it with each passing year. this year three of his new movies Bombay Talkies,Lunchbox and Monsoon Shootout were screened at Cannes,a year after he had charmed the Cannes audience with Miss Lovely and Gangs of Wasseypur I and II. this time round,Lunchbox got a standing ovation at the festival as well as the Critics Week Viewers Choice award. Monsoon Shootout witnessed an impressive turnout for its midnight screening on a beach. Lunchbox,an unusual love story between an aging man (Irrfan) and a housewife (Nimrat Kaur),has Siddiqui in a cameo role. Both Irrfan and Nimrat play intense characters,while mine balances it with humour. Whats heartening is that during the screening at Cannes,the audience was enjoying the funny bits. Mine is not a major role,but it stands out for its comic touch, he says. However,for him,Monsoon Shootout,a fast-paced thriller,was a tougher act. It offers three possibilities as a rookie cop trains his guns at a gangster,played by Siddiqui. according to director Amit Kumar,with whom he had also done an award-winning short film,Bypass,in 2003,as these possibilities play out on the big screen,one can notice the subtle differences that the actor brings to the character each time. Siddiqui brings amazing dedication to work. While shooting Bypass,he did not complain about running barefoot on the hot sands of rajasthan and years later for Monsoon Shootout,he did not mind retakes in the rain, says Kumar. Retreating into solitude is part of this National School of Drama graduates way of sustaining creativity. It prepares Siddiqui for his upcoming assignments. Last year,before the shooting for Ketan Mehtas Mountain Man started in Bihar,Siddiqui fled to Dehra Dun for nearly a fortnight. I needed that time to mull over the body rhythm,mannerisms of Dashrath Manjhi,on whom the biopic is based,and how to bring out his character. I went to the shooting location directly from Dehra Dun, says Siddiqui. He believes that the effect of such breaks reflects in his work.
If I am taking on a new character,I have to start with a clear state of mind, he says. right now Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa demands more of his inner self. Most of my dialogues were not written. Buddhadebda and I used to discuss a scene and after that,it was left to me to make my performance convincing, he says. Now that his struggling phase is over 2012 witnessed his rise as a prominent actor in films as diverse as Kahaani,Paan Singh Tomar,Gangs of Wasseypur II and Talaash Siddiqui does not want to give into commercial ventures. If I had to earn money,I would have started some business, he says. His satisfaction is what motivates him to take up a film. I am not hoping to attract mass attention. If only discerning viewers watch my films,I will be happy, he adds.
Siddiqui finds the tag of being the new face of indie cinema a mere coincidence. It so happened that the people I worked with were doing good films that travelled to international festivals, says Siddiqui.
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