Nawazuddin Siddiqui who wrapped up his 2017 with five outstanding performances is gearing up for an eventful 2018. This year, the actor made his international debut in the BBC web series McMafia, streaming on Amazon Prime and directed by British filmmaker, James Watkins.
Lighting a cigarette in a dimly lit room, dotted with posters of himself essaying different characters, Nawazuddin talks to The Quint about McMafia and the most controversial role of his career - that of Bal Thackeray’s - in a biopic of the erstwhile Shiv Sena supremo.
Thackeray is infamous for his incendiary anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant comments. Ironically Nawazuddin belongs to both the categories that he vociferously took a stand against. In a chat with The Quint, Nawazuddin Siddiqui opens up about the curious casting.
1.Tell us about Dilly Mahmood in McMafia, what makes him an interesting character?
Nawazuddin Siddiqui: My character is that of a business partner. He is very ambitious, and strong, he wants to rise and shine by hook or by crook. He cracks certain codes and then success is never ending for him, this increases his belief that he can do better and he further pushes himself to climb the ladder. Once he tastes success he gets to know he can touch the sky and becomes one of the top mafias in the world. His journey to scale the heights and his perseverance to be on top is what makes his character very interesting.
2. This is your first international assignment, what are the other offers that you have bagged? Also, once you had said that doing an international project is overrated, are you still of the same opinion?
Nawazuddin Siddiqui: I don't want to do an international project just because they have a tag associated with them. I always like challenging roles, that is why I opted for playing Dilly Mahmood in McMafia. I don't believe in making any kind of numbers, I can't be the one who does 10 international films and come back and then ask people to write good stuff about me, undoubtedly they will, but the entire point is my quality of work doesn't reach out to my audience. There is not one type of offer that I have got, they come and go, though I am looking for more challenging offers, if they come I will definitely take them, whether national or international.
3. How important is Dilly Mahmood's role in McMafia? As the trailer didn't feature much of you.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Right now they have just released the first few episodes which I am not a part of, gradually I will be seen more when my part is about to come, they will promote my role at that time, till then you have to make do with this trailer.
How different was the experience of working with an international team? What are some of the strikingly different ways in which they operate?
Nawazuddin Siddiqui: The best part about working on this project is that I got to meet a lot of actors from different nations like Russia, Israel, Europe. So this was a great exposure because they all had very different ways of approaching one particular role. This was something I really learnt on the sets. We in the Indian film industry function very differently, we are organic, we can twist the scene as we feel but this is not the case internationally. The dialogues should be by heart when you get to the sets, they are very professional and perfectionist. I was really scared because the same scene was done by me multiple times in the very same manner, no modifications. Being consistent becomes a task because there is a fear of looking mechanical. While working with an actor in Croatia, he took 6-7 takes to do a scene but I was observing each take and his preciseness with every take remained the same. I learned how to not look mechanical even after repeating the same mannerism multiple times.
Considering Bal Thackeray’s stance against Muslims and immigrants, were you surprised when you were approached for the role?
Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Yes I was surprised, but at the same time I was extremely happy because there are many A-listers in Bollywood who want to play this role but it just came to me. It is a very interesting role, any actor would love to do it. As an actor the role was worth it and extremely challenging for me, so I went ahead. His personality was such that any actor in the world would die to play his role. Political matters are something else, I wouldn't go into those details. My aim is to bring out his life in front of the people - that is my job as an actor, I would not like to touch politics in that.
How are you preparing for playing his character?
Nawazuddin Siddiqui: I am still researching his character. There are millions of videos out there, I am watching all of them to get deeper details about his character. It is just not about looking and sounding like him, for that they could have hired someone to do his mimicry or in terms of mere looks - the makeup artist will do their best. But my job is to make the audience believe that I am Bal Thackeray in minimum make up and maximum acting. I am an artist, I take roles if I feel they will open doors for me further.
In 2016, Shiv Sena had protested against you taking part in Ram Leela and you had to back out. Has the equation changed now?
Nawazuddin Siddiqui: That was all done by the media, a random person said that he was a part of Shiv Sena and he wants me out and everybody believed him. If that was the case, they wouldn’t really have approached me for this role. It is better to keep politics out of profession. The entire matter was made big by the media, Aditya Thackeray had tweeted after that, nobody spoke about his tweet simply because people like creating issues when there are no issues. I am an actor, my job is to act, bring out the beauty of the role, politics cannot deteriorate the quality of my work.
(We Indians have much to talk about these days. But what would you tell India if you had the chance? Pick up the phone and write or record your Letter To India. Don’t be silent, tell her how you feel. Mail us your letter at lettertoindia@thequint.com. We’ll make sure India gets your message.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)