Extraordinary journey of Nawazuddin Siddiqui
On Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s 47th birth anniversary, let us have look at the extraordinary journey of the actor who is now a household name and is widely popular for his twisted, dark and comic roles.
After years of struggle and several careers, Nawazuddin Siddiqui made his debut on the silver screen in a small role in John Matthew Matthan’s Sarfarosh (1999).
In the same year, he played the role of a waiter in Eeshwar Nivas’s Shool. He continued playing small roles in films like Jungle, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. In 2003, he appeared beside late actor Irrfan Khan in The Bypass, a critically acclaimed short film which made it to several film festivals around the world.
However, the success could not change Siddiqui’s fate and he continued playing numerous small roles in the years to come, including in films like Mudda (2003), Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), Ek Challis Ki Last Local (2007), Manorama Six Feet Under (2007), Black Friday (2007) and Firaaq (2008).
Finally, audiences and critics noticed him in another small role in Kabir Khan’s romance-thriller New York in 2009.
He also gave a special appearance in as a singer in Anurag Kashyap’s Dev. D in the same year, followed by a journalist in Anusha Rizvi’s Peepli Live in 2010.
In 2011, he won a special mention award at National Film Awards for playing Jethu in Dekh Indian Circus directed by Mangesh Hadawale.
The following year, 2012, was a turning point in the actor’s career where he played noticeable roles in Kahaani and Paan Singh Tomar.
It was the same year that he got his big break in Anurag Kashyap’s crime film, Gangs of Wasseypur that brought him unprecedented fame and numerous awards.
His role as gangster Faizal Khan in the franchise made him a household name in India. The film went on to become a cult classic and Siddiqui became a favourite with the audiences and directors for playing dark, comic and twisted roles.
This success brought him a bagful of films like Talaash, Bombay Talkies, The Lunchbox, Haramkhor, Badlapur, Majhi: The mountain man, Raman Raghav 2.0 and many others between 2013 to early 2018.
In 2018 he played the character of Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto in the film Manto for which he won Best Performance by an Actor at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the GQ Men of the Year award.
The actor also made his OTT debut with Netflix-produced Sacred Games series in 2018.
Followed by many other commercial hits and critically acclaimed roles in Bollywood as well as regional Indian language films, his latest release was Serious Men on Netflix.
Currently, he is involved in the post production of three upcoming films, Jogira Sara Ra Ra, Sangeen and an India-American-Bangladeshi drama named No Land’s Man.
