MUMBAI MIRROR (December 20, 2016)

Actress-filmmaker Nandita Das was in for a surprise when she started scouting for a star to take on the role of Saadat Hasan Manto’s closest friend and actor Shyam in her next directorial, Manto.

Turns out, everyone she approached turned the offer down for fear of it looking like a second lead to Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s titular character.

Writing about the experience in a column, Nandita inferred from the experience that “the road to stardom is to play the lead, have the girl and be heroic in the climax.”