Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 26, 2020)

He travelled to his home-town, Budhana (Uttar Pradesh) last month, amid Coronavirus lockdown. And since then, actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has kept himself busy, not with anything to do with acting but what, he says, comes “naturally” to him — farming.

On his social media accounts, the actor shared a video titled ‘Done for the day’, in which he can be seen washing his hands at the end of a session, at his farm. Later, Siddiqui — who clearly seems to be soaked in sweat and mud — can be seen picking up the spade and walking off.

Ask him if ‘enjoys’ farming, and he says: “It’s not about ‘feeling good’ or ‘enjoyment’ because this is a habit and a part of my DNA now. My forefathers were into farming and even I did the same initially — for close to 25 years of my life. When I moved to Mumbai, it came to a halt, but whenever I have gone back to my village, I have always indulged in farming. Honestly, it gives me a lot of peace of mind, and plus, it all also comes naturally.”

That’s why Siddiqui doesn’t even believe that farming is something that ‘keeps me grounded’. “The reality is that this is me, and that’s what I am. So, there’s no question of it keeping me rooted or grounded. When I am in Mumbai and doing films/shows, that’s an absolutely different aspect of my life which is also something that I enjoy a lot,” says the actor, adding, “Gaon mein hamaari extended family ke kaafi pushtaani khet hain abhi bhi.”

Ask Siddiqui what he is helping grow right now, and he says: “In the video, I was making arrangements to water the jowar crop. Itni garmi mein jowar bahut acche se grow karta hai,” says the actor, who has also been taking out time to dub for Sudhir Mishra’s OTT project, Serious Men (an adaptation of Manu Joseph’s book of the same name) at home.

As for farming, Siddiqui feels that his stint with it has also helped him professionally. “Once I am done with my work in mentally-challenging films such as Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), I love to come back to my village, do some farming, clear my mind and go back to Mumbai, to start my next film, on a clean slate,” he concludes.