23032025-LSTC-01.qxd 3/23/2025 12:39 AM Page 1 c m y b UP NEXT FOR TAMANNAAH The supernatural thriller Odela 2, starring Tamannaah Bhatia, will hit the theatres on April 17. A sequel to the successful Odela Railway Station, the film promises to delve into the mysteries of the village of Odela and its guardian deity. It has been directed by Ashok Teja. TRIBUNE Collaboration Life Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco have officially released their much-anticipated album, I Said I Love You First, marking their first fulllength collaboration as a couple. CHANDIGARH | SUNDAY | 23 MARCH 2025 ‘The unsaid matters’ The hugely talented Nawazuddin Siddiqui says whether essaying real characters or fictional, the challenges remain the same CINEVESTURE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Nonika Singh PHOTO: VICKY H E is certainly a man of the moment. Once, gifted actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui might have been in danger of getting lost in the bheed but today he stands out. Not only in his exceptional filmography, which boasts of eight films making it to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, but right here in City Beautiful, swarmed by admirers and a full house session. Of course, at the ongoing four-day Cinevesture International Film Festival, he chooses to talk about Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, hailing the film for making India shine. On his own films, right from Gangs of Wasseypur to The Lunchbox to Photograph to Miss Lovely shining on the world map, he won’t say much. Actually, talking euphemistically about his own self bores him. Praise makes him awkward. But what doesn’t is sharing snapshots of his amazing life. What an actor desires more than anything is to be challenged. NAWAZUDDIN SIDDIQUI Thus, be at the session conducted by Siddharth Hussain GM Creative, Bhanushali Studios or in an exclusive chitchat, he is more than willing to go down memory lane. Indeed, back in time when he was getting small parts and ‘mostly getting beaten up in films’, his family in his village Budhana in UP was quite aghast, even somewhat embarrassed. It was only after he became the lead, Faizal Khan in Anurag Kashyap’s muchfeted Gangs of Wasseypur 2, that he got a hero’s welcome in his village. The journey to play these stellar parts has not been easy. He recalls those early days of struggle when he had to cook, wash clothes and scrub utensils. What’s more, those were the days when all the four roommates, aspiring actors, would land at the same audition. Today, as his plate is full and he will soon be seen in the sequel of Honey Trehan’s Raat Akeli Hai, and I am Not An Actor, he chooses films on the basis of not just the script but also his character’s complexity and depth. Of course, he would not let his personal ideology cloud his selection. Thus, he had no qualms in playing both Balasaheb Thackeray and Saadat Hasan Manto almost simultaneously. Essaying real characters or fictional, challenges for an actor remain the same. He observes, “What an actor desires more than anything is to be challenged.” At CIFF he regaled audi, ences with passages from Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq. Back in time, for Kabir Khan’s New York, he just took a few min- c m y b utes, if not more, to memorise the entire set of dialogues. In an industry which thrives on dialogue-baazi, he believes, “Often, the unsaid is very important and what is between the lines, which conveys through its subtexts.” He would not care to make a distinction between different genres or qualify the definition of good cinema, which he insists varies from one individual to another. As his mentor Anurag Kashyap has only recently expressed his disaffection with streaming platforms in the context of web series Adolescence, and how we can’t create such content, does he think the industry is at an inflection point and change is a must? He answers, “Change is the only constant.” Industry pundits might be going ga-ga over how conventional definitions of who fits the bill of an actor have changed dramatically, yet, he observes, “Trailblazers are only few.” For someone who has battled the conventional versus unconventional looks debate for a major part of his life, time spent at NSD made him reflect and accept himself as he is. He says, “I don’t really understand how I am unconventional, for millions look like me. Rather, I would say Hrithik Roshan is unconventional.” Conventional or not, he can take a bow for turning around many known conventions of acting. So it was not only on the stage that he stood tall, even in the starry world of glamour he can be counted as one of our very best.