Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 10, 2020)

A name that’ll probably always be constant in the list of fine Bollywood actors will be of Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Thanks to his earnest and intense performances, he’s climbed up the ladder of success the hard way.

These days, there’s been a lot of chatter about how talks of films working solely on the name and face of a star are reaching their end. Ask Nawazuddin if he, too, agrees on the star system coming to an end and he strongly disagrees. “Yeh nahi jaa sakta, aur jaana bhi nahi chahiye. Stars can make any film a hit, and then the money which comes from such films is used to make smaller films. It’s important for stars to be there, in any country. Look at what happened in Europe... the star system is finished there and films, too, have more or less stopped being made. There are barely two or three films in a year. When there are stars, there is fan following, and these fans are the ones who go to theatres and watch films. The money comes from there,” reasons the 45-year old.

What also comes as a by-product of the star system is the hotly debated nepotism issue, where some people believe that being a star kid automatically qualifies you to be signed for big films, and leaving other talented actors, with no connections, in the lurch.

“Saari cheezein isliye boli jaati hain kyunki breaking news banti hai na Bollywood se. Poori duniya ki gandgi log Bollywood mein isliye dikhaane ki koshish karte hain,” pat comes the reply from Nawazuddin.

So, how does he find the film industry to be? He says, “Mujhe achhi lagti hai. Though it takes time, you get your due but I’m only speaking from my own experience. ‘Nepotism hai’, yeh sab bakwaas baatein hain. If you have talent, then you will get your due. Those who have stars as their parents, they will always get first preference. When one’s father is a doctor, they will make their kids doctors, too, as that’s easy. But it isn’t as if the star kids are sitting at home idle, and just going and shooting films. They have to work hard, too.”

But don’t they get more chances to prove themselves? “Kyunki wahi karna hota hai inko, isiliye asaani se mil jaata hai, which is not bad actually. Agar meri beti hai, har waqt uske saamne main acting ki baat karta hoon jab ghar aata hoon… she watches my films, so when she grows up, she might want to join films. But she will have to work hard. It’s not as if she can sit comfortably and say ‘mera baap star tha, kaam mil jaayega’. Aisa nahi hota,” says Nawazuddin.