EXCLUSIVE: Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s horrific story of facing racism: TV people said it takes them 1.5 days to make us look lit up on screen

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has proved his mettle as an actor. He has achieved a massive feat and is currently among the few very talented actors in the country. Nawazuddin, who happens to be a farmer’s son has carved a niche for himself with his stellar performances in the movies. But, the actor has also had his fair share of struggles. In an exclusive chat with us, Nawazuddin Siddiqui opened up about facing racism during his early acting days. He shared a horrific story of being rejected for his skin colour.

Speaking with Bollywood Bubble, Nawazuddin spoke about being rejected for roles. He said, “See, TV mein uss tarah ke jo realistic, joh crime pe jo series banti thi, usme mil jaata tha humein role. Ek din ka mil gaya kaam, do din ka mil gaya, iss tarah ka hota tha. (See, in TV, I used to get roles in the series that were based on crime or that were realistic. I used to get work one day, got work two days, that’s how it used to be).”

He added, “Baaki uske baad, phir woh, jaisi Yash Chopra ki filme hoti thi, waise TV serial banne lagi. Khoobsurat, har cheeze achi achi. (Later, they started making TV serials just like the Yash Chopra films. Everything beautiful, and all things nice).”

 

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The actor continued, “Jab hum log jaate the office mein toh reject isliye hote the ki unko, ek episode, ek hi din mein bhejna hota tha channel ko. (Back then, when we visited the office, we would get rejected, because, for one episode, they would be required to send the episode to the channel in the same day).”

Siddiqui further shared, “Usme agar hum jaise actor chale jaate the, toh unko bolte the, humhe reject isliye karte the, ke yaar ‘Tumhe na extra time lagana padta hai tumpe’. Kyun? ‘Extra light lagani padti, tab jaake lit up ho paate ho aap log, aur humhare paas ek hi din hai. Aur ek din mein hi channel ko bhejna padta hai, toh aapko lenge toh dedh din lagega’. (In that, if actors like me would go, they would reject us, saying ‘We will have to invest extra time on you’. Why? ‘You guys would lit up on the screen, only when we put up extra light, we have only one day to shoot. And we have to send the episode to the channel in a day and you would take one and a half day’).”

Take a look at the full conversation below:

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Nawazuddin Siddiqui recalls he was ‘not paid’ for his role in Raveena Tandon & Manoj Bajpayee starrer Shool, says, “Aaj tak 2500 rupaye nahi mile”