Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 19, 2019)

While sitting on Kapil Sharma’s couch with Thackeray co-star Amrita Rao, Nawazuddin Siddiqui shared an anecdote from his cash-strapped days in Mumbai. He recalled an incident when he had bought bunches of coriander worth Rs 200 from a wholesaler at the Dadar vegetable market, only to find himself with leaves that were turning brown and no buyers.

“I confronted the seller, who explained that I should have sprinkled water on the leaves to keep them fresh. The advice came too late and it was money down the drain,” rued the 44-year-old actor, who had to travel without ticket to his home in Mira Road that day.

Another interesting incident was from when he was cast as a junior artiste in an ad and paid a princely sum of Rs 4000. “The happiness was short lived as I had to share half the money with one of the co-ordinators since I didn’t have a junior artiste card. From what was left, I spent Rs 1800 at a hotel to celebrate my achievement and then took a rickshaw ride. By the end of it I was penniless again.” he chuckled.