Happy 47th birthday Nawazuddin Siddiqui! The actor had his own journey of rejections and struggles before he came into the limelight.
Today, we will share some of his lesser-known performances, or you can say blink-and-you-will-miss roles in Bollywood.
Bollywood Movies:
1. Sarfarosh
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s first-ever onscreen performance was in Aamir Khan’s Sarfarosh, which was released in 1999. He played the role of a local criminal who got arrested and interrogated after a raid at Victoria House.
Did you know the birthday boy never got the chance to interact with Aamir Khan when he appeared in Sarfarosh? While talking about this in an interview, Nawaz said, “During ‘Sarfarosh’, I had no interaction with Aamir. After ‘Sarfarosh’ and before ‘Talaash’, I had met Aamir Khan during ‘Peepli Live’. He used to come on the sets and once while shooting, I thought I should tell him that we had met during Sarfarosh and we had done a minute role in that film. He was very happy after knowing it, he actually stopped the film shoot and he told everyone about our scene from the movie.”
2. Shool
His next movie was in the same year only. Nawazuddin was seen as a waiter at a Dhaba in this Manoj Bajpayee- Raveena Tandon starrer.
3. Munna Bhai MBBS
Yes, Nawazuddin Siddiqui was there in this Rajkumar Hirani directorial. He played a petty criminal who pickpockets Sunil Dutt’s wallet (Sanjay Dutt’s dad in the film as well) in Sanjay Dutt- Arshad Warsi- Boman Irani- Gracy Singh starrer Munna Bhai MBBS.
Again, he never had any interaction with Sanjay while filming the movie. Earlier in an interview, Nawaz reveals, “During Munna Bhai, I never met Sanjay Dutt in person as I was in the crowd and there was no interaction with him but yes, after that we had met several times. He is a wonderful person.”
4. Dev.D
How did we miss him in this one? Even before the Gangs of Wasseypur, Nawazuddin has worked with Anurag Kashyap in Dev.D. Nawaz appeared in the song ‘Emotional Atyachar’, garnering attention with his distinct screen presence.
5. Ek Chalish Ki Last Local
In this movie, the Badlapur actor played a drug addict who accidentally gets killed by the protagonist of the movie, played by Abhay Deol.
6. Firaaq
In this Nandita Das directorial, Nawaz played the role of a middle-class Muslim man named Hanif, who has a whim for vengeance for his destroyed and burnt house.
7. Mudda: The Issue
In Mudda: The Issue, Nawazuddin played the role of Kamal, Arya Babbar’s sidekick and friend. It was a crucial supporting role and he was seen around Arya Babbar, supporting him, mouthing Kabir’s poems, and preventing Arya from beating up a person.
Besides these Bollywood movies, the actor has also done a couple of short movies, which are indeed worth watching. Take a look at some of them:
Short Movies:
1. Salt ‘N’ Pepper
2. “OP” Stop Smelling Your Socks
3. The Bypass
4. The Journey
5. Recycle Mind
