Skip to main content

From Poverty To Power: Nawazuddin Siddiqui



In the small town of Budhana, Muzaffarnagar, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, there lived a boy whose dreams were bigger than his family could afford. In a village where education is hard to get, he, along with his six brothers and two sisters, managed to get whatever they could. In what seemed like a scenario straight out of a typical Bollywood film, the village only knew three things — wheat, sugarcane, and guns. The guns aspect made this lower-middle-class family fear for their safety and move out in search of a better livelihood.

While the family continued to have a decent living after the move, this boy completed his graduation from a university in Haridwar and then worked as a chemist at a petrochemical company in Baroda. Unable to cope, he moved to Delhi and worked as a watchman at various places. In this process, he frequently visited theatres and plays and started to participate in them. He went on to join the National School of Drama (NSD) and graduated from it in 1996. It all started going uphill for him after this step, and the versatile Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the personification of how success comes from never giving up.

Having acquired a relevant degree, he moved to Mumbai to try his luck in Bollywood, but he didn’t even have enough money to pay rent. He walked from studio to studio, set to set, all day, finding himself doing only petty roles or the ones where he was just a part of a crowd. He approached an NSD senior asking if he could stay at his place, who agreed to it under the condition that Nawaz cooked twice a day.


He made his film debut with Aamir Khan’s Sarfarosh in 1999, where he played a terrorist. This was followed by small roles over the next few years and his poverty still continued during this period of time. He even acted in television serials and a few short films but his big break was Black Friday (2007) by Anurag Kashyap. His first major lead role was as a wedding singer in Patang, which made it to the Berlin International Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival. However, he got real recognition from the movie Peepli Live, where he played a journalist.

The year 2012 was the turning point for him with films like Kahaani and Gangs of Wasseypur doing so well at the box office and that was when the world got to identify the real potential of this wonderful actor. Nawaz didn’t look back after that. He went on to act in big movies like Talaash, Badlapur, Lunchbox, Kick, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Raees, and also the Oscar-nominated Lion. 


From being just an extra and a prop to being a lead actor and traveling to film festivals like Cannes and currently being one of the most talented and versatile actors of the Indian film industry, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s story is quite an inspirational rags-to-riches tale.

Here is a Clip of his stellar performance from the movie KICK.

By
Syed Salman
Labels:
Location: Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

17 *Fierce* Female Characters The Harry Potter Series Gave Us - Thank You, J.K. Rowling.

Harry Potter is a universe with endless possibilities of twists, turns and probabilities. Maybe that is the reason that there are so many fan-fics and theories that exist still, even after the last chapter closed on us, ending the saga. J.K. Rowling gave us a bevy of characters to remember, for good or bad, through the magical world that she created, and amongst them, today we are going to talk about a few. We bring to you some of the fiercest female characters from the series - you obviously know them all, but they need to be talked and written about. Here we go... 1. Hermione Granger She was not just the brightest witch of her age, but also the bravest one. At the tender age of eleven, when one doesn't even know how to fathom a situation, she chose her path wisely, stuck by her friends in their quest to finish off the evillest wizard of all times, and displayed an extraordinary knack for not just spell-casting, but logic, bravery and knowledge. 2. Bellatrix...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tips to Keep You Motivated While Writing a Book

 At one point of time every reader has the urge to write a book. But many of them lose the fire due to lack of motivation. Well, here are some tips you can follow if you start writing. 1. Remember the reason why you are writing Why did you start your book in the first place? It helps to keep your eye on the prize. It may be to see your story finished or your non-fiction ideas flowing into a cohesive form in a proposal so you can approach a literary agent. Experts have found that people fall into one of three intrinsic motivational categories; that is, most individuals are motivated more or less by one of three things: challenge, affinity, or power. If you're an author who's motivated by challenge — going for a tough goal and then nailing it — then finishing a book might be a no-brainer . If you're motivated by affinity, then your motivation is the connection to and bonding with other people. You might be better off framing your "prize" in terms o...
Post a Comment
Read more

BJP vs Congress: Who Wins Gujarat?

Counting of votes in this year's biggest electoral battle - the Gujarat election - is just a couple of days away. Save the date: December 18.While you wait for the results, we've broken down the results of the Gujarat exit polls for you. Squib Link predicts that BJP will comfortably win the home game in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state. But what are the best and worst case Gujarat election result scenarios for the BJP and the Congress? We've analyzed the exit poll results put out by other channels, and broken down the numbers for you. Remember, the finishing line in the Gujarat election is 92 (91 + 1) seats (in a legislature with 182) BJP's BEST CASE SCENARIO: 128 seats Gujarat exit poll says Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party will bag as many as 128 seats - more than a two-thirds majority. If this turns out to be the case, it will be a body blow for the Congress. While it's not the 150 seat-tally that BJP President Amit Shah ta...
Post a Comment
Read more