I don’t need validation from Hollywood: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been around in the film industry for long enough to know the one thing he wants to change about it. And considering the recognition he enjoys both in Indian and abroad, he makes a fair point. “I want to change the name ‘Bollywood’ itself. Yeh jo udhaar ka naam le rakha hai, sabse pehle humein yeh badalna chahiye,” he said recently.

Siddiqui also finds it peculiar that a film or an actor is recognised only they are praised in the West, or get some award. “This is a fact. A lot of my films would go to international festivals, and even get awards, but when they would release here, they wouldn’t get much response. It’s only when they get the validation from West,” Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.

Giving the example of his recent web film Serious Men which received a lot of praise from both critics and viewers alike, the actor added, “Thank God, we got such a great response but if it hadn’t, we would have thought, ‘Yeh kya ho gaya?’ Then, when it would have got some award in the West, it would have been termed good here too. The validation is needed, especially from the West, and it hasn’t changed.”

Siddiqui has starred in the international show McMafia and The Lunchbox also became popular abroad. When asked if he has been offered more international projects, the actor confessed, “Offers do come but things are just not materialising. Aisa nahi hai ke marra jaa raha hoon, ya thappa lagega unka tab jaake actor kehlaunga. I am not dependent on that, and neither do I want to be. I want my films to go to the West and tell them that we are no less.”

Does Siddiqui think Indian film-makers have tapped his full potential? “The kind of work I am getting today, I shouldn’t complain, because that is the kind I want. I am happy and have no complaints. Talent ki kadar bilkul hoti hai, if you are asking about my journey. If not today, then tomorrow, you will have to give your time, if you have passion. Talent is always recognised someday,” concluded the star.

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