During his masterclass titled Journey as an Actor at the 53rd edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Nawazuddin Siddiqui shared with the audience what he expects from his directors, how he approaches his characters and why he never gets tired of acting.

In conversation with Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) member and IFFI steering committee member Vani Tripathi Tikoo, Nawazuddin revealed to the audience that he had initially refused to do Sacred Games because he had no idea about what a web series was.

“When Vikramaditya Motwane (director of the series) contacted me to do Sacred Games, I was not really sure. I didn’t know much about the concept of web shows. It was Anurag Kashyap who convinced me to do the series. Anurag showed me a world map and said that the web show would be available in every country that was lit up on the map, and that was when I understood the reach OTT has and agreed to take up the role,” he recounted.

Tikoo informed the audience that Nawaz has been working in international projects and asked him about the difference he has noticed while working with directors in India and abroad. “Hamare yahan shoot par bahut shor machta hai. Silence ka koi concept nahi hai. Aur director chahta hai ki ismein ye actor apna best kare,” he said.

Nawaz added, “Itni awaazein ho rahi hain aur usmein kehte hain — ‘aaiye, aap ka shot ready hai. Lights, camera, action’. Thoda silence do na yaar usko, toh woh shayad behtar kar sake. Main bolta hoon silence do, lekin hamare yahan nahi ho pata. Hamare yahan silence ka concept nahi hai.”

When Vani asked her National School of Drama (NSD) senior about his approach towards acting, Nawazuddin said, “Whenever a senior director used to visit NSD, he used to ask us to unlearn all the techniques and start it all over again, and that felt like a tedious process back then. Later, I realised that whenever you do a new role, you have to start learning all over again. If you think that you know everything, then you will not be able to excel in your craft. You have to start from zero. I unlearn and learn every time I start a project. Pehle se agar mind mein le kar aao ki main toh har baar century marta hoon toh bahut mushkil ho jayega.”

Talking about an actor’s fatigue while goingthrough the psychological and physical transformation every character might need, Vani asked Nawaz what drives him every day to act all over again. “Kahin na kahin woh aadat bhi ban jati hai jo aap ko junoon de ki har roz subah kaam karne ki. Acting mera shauq hai, main usse kyun thakunga? Mujhe realise hota hai ki acting mein hi toh duniya basti hai meri. Ismein mujhe thakna kyun hai? Kabhi kabhi toh lagta hai ki ek zindagi bhi kam hai. Jab aap deep jate hain acting mein, tab aap ko lagta hai ki abhi to bahut kuch karna hai. Sirf acting itna bada field hai ki lagta hai paanch zindagi bhi milegi toh bhi pura nahi kar payenge hum log,” responded Nawaz.

Responding to a question on what he expects from his directors, Nawaz said, “I need everything from my directors. I want them to tell me every single trait of the character that they are aware of. But unfortunately, very few directors are like that in our country. When you read a script, you’ll find that there are only dialogues and hardly any details about the kind of person a character is — details about his temperament, his physicality. Set par bolte hain aisa character hai, lekin yaar yeh script mein toh likha nahi. Dialoguebazi bahut hai hamare yahan. Do page ka dialogue likhne ki kya zarurat hai jab ek eyeball se express kar sakta hai scene ko? Hum bolte bahut hai.”

He further shared, “Once Irrfan bhai was directing me in a short film and I told the actress, ‘Aa ja meri cycle mein baith ja,’ aur Irrfan bhai ne kaha, ‘Cycle toh dikh rahi hai, toh bol kyun raha hai?’” While talking about dealing with mediocre actors, he said, “Scene do logon ki wajah se banta hai. Agar koi mediocre hai toh scene nahi banega. Lekin hamare yahan chalta hai. Insaan achcha hai toh le lo usko yaar. Arey insaan achcha hai toh ghar pe bula ke dawat do usko, role kyun de rahe ho?”

When someone asked Nawazuddin, what should one do when they are not getting a role even after 10-20 auditions, he said, “Once an actor came to Piyush bhai (Piyush Mishra) and said that he wants to leave acting and Piyush bhai responded, ‘Haan sahi soch raha hai, chala ja.’ That actor was expecting that he would be encouraged and consoled. Kya hai na humein koi sambhalne nahi aayega, humein khud ko hi sambhalna hoga. Humein puri zindagi deni padegi, agar 55 saal mein mil jaye success toh koi buri baat nahin hai.”