Nawazuddin Siddiqui - The TBIP Tête-à-Tête

The Big Indian Picture - A magazine of cinema and culture - http://thebigindianpicture.com

The TBIP Tête-à-Tête is a series of in-depth and intimate interviews with film personalities who are critical to this era of filmmaking. It is an attempt to understand their body of work. And their minds. Because who they are intrigues us just as much as what they do. Because what they do is because of who they are. In certain cases, despite who they are. Because integral to the love of cinema is the love of cinema's idols— the chosen few whose mystique remains intact despite the tabloids' obsession with their lives.

Attempting to chat with Nawazuddin Siddiqui at a party is an awkward exercise. He barely has anything to say because he is simply not very good at making small talk. Interviewing him makes you feel like even more of an imposter. The traditional structure of an interview, the pre-designed questions, the whole format seems entirely unnecessary because you can tell he does not quite get what the fuss is about. The formality makes him stiffen, even though he has nothing to keep from you. Especially because he has nothing to keep from you. And yet, strip the formalities away, put him in a room with friends and he is the very life of a conversation—recounting anecdotes, confessing, mimicking, philosophizing—no holds barred. So here is something in between an informal chat and formal interview with the actor whose rise to fame has become a redemptive tale for actors struggling to break through the ranks of impossibly handsome or hereditary stars. Nothing about Nawaz's life reflects stardom as we have come to know it and yet he is undisputedly a star— not one who consciously breaks moulds but one who is what he is because he neither knows nor cares about another way of being. Until he hears the call: "Action".

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