Mumbai: Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui is wary of taking small roles in big budget films because he does not want to get tagged as a character actor after struggling to establish himself in Bollywood for 14 years.
"I am not interested in playing small roles or cameos in big budget films with big stars. I would rather prefer going to my village. People in the industry tag character actors. I have worked hard for almost 12 years to reach here... I don't want that," Nawazuddin told PTI.
"I feel performance of an actor is either good or bad... why bifurcate actors as character actors and main heroes, why create categories. I don't like that.. I don't believe in it," the 39-year-old actor said.
Siddiqui made his Bollywood debut in 1999 with a small role in Aamir Khan starrer 'Sarfarosh'. It took him a while to get noticed with his powerful performances in 'Kahaani', 'Gangs of Wasseypur', 'Paan Singh Tomar' and 'Peepli Live'. His first breakthrough role came with Anurag Kashyap's 'Black Friday' where he played a terrorist.
After struggling to set his foothold in Bollywood for a long time, Nawazuddin emerged as high performer in 'Gangs of Wasseypur', where he played the main protagonist. He is playing a ghosh, again a lead role, opposite Bipasha Basu in
supernatural thriller 'Aatma'.
"I won't do only supporting roles, I am very much clear about this. If I have to do the same thing again and again I would go back to Delhi and do theatre. I want to do lead roles only now. I don't want a big photo of a hero and a small
picture of mine," he said.
"I don't want to do films with a big star cast. People categorise you as character actors... and I don't want that tag attached to me. I would happily do small budget film of Rs one lakh but will not do supporting roles," he added.
It was Anurag Kashyap's 'Gangs of Wasseypur' that changed the game for the actor again in the industry. "After 'GoW' the good part is people have started looking at me for lead roles. The industry has changed. Daily, I get five films offered, till now I have received close to 175 film offers. Its not that I will do all films, the one I like it most.. I do that," Nawazuddin said.
"I have become choosier as I want to be part of good cinema. I want people to remember me for my performance. So it depends on story, how is the film, director and producer all these things are also important," he said.
His upcoming movies include 'Aatma', 'Dekh Indian Circus', 'Patang', 'Lunch Box', 'Black Currency', 'Mountain Man', 'Miss Lovely' and 'Haram Khor'.
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