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'I'm not after money, money is after me now'

Star talk
Last Updated 19 August 2015, 18:32 IST

For over 10 years, I’ve been without money. I used to borrow cash from people. I was habitual to that life. Everyone told me that in this one life which we get, we are supposed to earn money, name and fame.

But this sentence never drove me in any stage of my life. I wanted to attain a certain level where money was the second priority. Now that my life is on a track, I can say that I am not after money, money is after me,” says the humble Nawazuddin Siddique who was in the capital to promote his upcoming movie Manjhi, The Mountain Man.

After 10 years of struggle, Siddique is now in the list of actors whose acting skills are critically acclaimed. Marking his entry into Bollywood with a small role in Sarfarosh in 1999, Siddique’s career graph has now attained an altitude which only a few from his clan could.

The actor who has been playing serious role says he doesn’t want to be stereotyped in any genre. In fact, he claims to hate his character once the movie is over.

“I want to try my hands in every genre. I cannot stick to a particular type of role. If I continue doing the same kind of movie each time like many other actors, I will start hating myself and perhaps will run away. Jab main action karunga to wo bhi kuch aur hoga, romance karunga to wo bhi kuch aur hoga,” he says.

The 41-year-old is portraying the role of Dasarath Manjhi in Ketan Mehta’s Manjhi, The Mountain Man which depicts the real story of the labourer hailing from Gehlaur village in Gaya district. Siddique summoned up the experience of playing the role of a man who broke down an entire mountain for his love.

“It was not easy to portray the role of such a great man. The story was so inspiring that I didn’t waste a moment in signing up for it. Also more than the movie, it was the thought to make people acknowledge Manjhi’s extraordinary efforts. But to get into someone’s mind and madness like this was not so easy. We talked to Manjhi’s family and the villagers that helped us in detailing the character.”

According to Gangs of Wasseypur star, the story of Dasarath Manjhi is going to inspire the nation’s youth to do good for the society and because of some great people like Manjhi the world is surviving. He tells Metrolife, “There is a certain amount of madness in everyone and all you need to do is to channelise it. Whoever wants to do something against all odds and has angst, is like Manjhi.”

Shot on the same mountain which Manjhi broke down, the entire team had a hard time shooting. Siddique was handed a 20-kg hammer to add some real effort to the movie. Sharing the difficulties which he faced, he adds, “It is always easy to think of a movie like this, but the execution is the most difficult part of it. We had to climb the mountains daily which took us 1-2 hours.

We used to wake up at 3 am and shoot till 11pm. It was a difficult task altogether but the thought of Manjhi struggling through all these odds kept me going.”News of the movie getting leaked over the torrent just a few days before its release made headlines recently. But the actor braves the situation saying, “Manjhi... is a movie about a mountain and a man standing tall against it. You can’t feel the depth of the movie until you watch it on big screens. People watch movies like Fast and Furious in their laptop, but you cannot experience the thrill then. But if you want to feel the movie and experience the detailing of my role, you have to go to the theatres. If movies were meant to be watched on laptops, aaj hum yahan tak nahin pohochte.”
Meanwhile, the actor is gearing up for his next movie Raees, where he plays role of a cop, set to hit screens in 2016.

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(Published 19 August 2015, 16:23 IST)

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