Theatre doesn`t have money, promote it: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Mumbai: What does Nawazuddin Siddiqui wish for? The acclaimed actor hopes that the position of theatre will be elevated to that of films and remuneration hiked too. "When I was doing theatre, TV serials had just started. Out ambition was to do only theatre, but when we started watching these serials a lot of my seniors came to Mumbai. Theatre doesn`t have money," the 39-year-old said here Tuesday at a promotional event of his film ‘Aatma’. "So I request marketing people to bring theatre, especially Hindi theatre to that position. It has no money that`s why we came to Mumbai to do TV serials," added the actor who featured in TV series ‘Stars Bestsellers: Alvida’. Nawazuddin was part of the Bhartendu Natya Academy in Lucknow and in 1996, he graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD). When asked about how he feels when filmmakers today make a queue outside his house to sign him, he said: "Nothing special because before that I was even sitting idle for a long time. I think I had no work for five years and then I got `Black Friday`. Before that it was a black period." Nawazuddin`s Bollywood career started with a small role in ‘Sarfarosh’ and he continued doing cameos in ‘Shool’, ‘Jungle’, ‘Munnabhai M.B.B.S.’, ‘Ek Chalis Ki Last Local’ and ‘Manorama Six Feet Under’. He was also seen in Anurag Kashyap`s critically acclaimed film ‘Black Friday’, based on the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, which was premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival in 2004. However, it hit the screens in India after much delay in 2007. Nawazuddin may be known for his dark roles in recent films like ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘Chittagong’ and ‘Talaash’, but he wants to try every possible genre as an actor. "Whichever character I play, I always try to make it such that it doesn`t look like I am acting. I want to experiment with all genres - comedy, romantic, everything," said the actor. "An actor is not meant for specific genres, it is not like if he is doing romantic films, then he should continue to do that forever. An actor should try all genres and I also want to try everything," he added. Besides ‘Aatma’, Nawazuddin will soon be seen in ‘Patang’, ‘Moonsoon Shootout’, ‘Shoebite’, ‘Black Currency’, and ‘Mountain Man’. IANS