The ‘Raman Raghav’ within

Nawazuddin Siddiqui on how shooting for thriller changed him

MUMBAI: Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently shared the disturbing impact of portraying a serial killer.

“For two days, I just went away without telling anyone and started fearing myself when I was preparing for this role,” he said. “Then, I returned and after I started shooting, I got hospitalised for a week for certain reasons. I was speaking lines of a scene while unconscious, and my wife called [Anurag Kashyap] and said, ‘What have you done to my husband? You have changed him’,” added Siddiqui at the trailer launch of Anurag Kashyap’s Raman Raghav 2.0.

Siddiqui’s character is based on real-life psychopathic serial killer Raman Raghav, who was known as Psycho Raman in the 1960s. The role is another one of Siddiqui’s performance-oriented roles after those in films such as Manjhi — The Mountain Man and Gangs of Wasseypur II.



When asked how he prepares for such roles, the actor said, “My process depends on the director; and sometimes the character alone tells you how you should prepare for it. There are numerous characters for which there is no need for any particular preparation. What the director tells you on the spot, the character follows that path. I just try to do what the director tells me, I don’t try to think too much,” he said.

Siddiqui recently landed himself in a controversy when he was accused of assaulting a woman in his housing society. Asked if there was any connection between the incident and his method-acting, he said: “The film had been made before that. If something is still left, I don’t know.” Raman Raghav 2.0 also stars Vicky Kaushal and Sobhita Dhulipala.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2016.

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