Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Nawazuddin Siddiqui (born 19 May 1974) is an Indian actor, known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has appeared in four major cinemas, earning the title of Breakthrough Talent at the 2012 GQ Men of the Year Awards. Siddiqui’s feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in Patang (2012), which premiered at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, for which Nawazuddin Siddiqui was presented with the Thumbsup Trophy by the cinema critic Roger Ebert. He also gained international recognitions for his work alongside director Anurag Kashyap in Black Friday (2007), the Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) duology and Raman Raghav 2.0.

Siddiqui is best known for his roles in The Lunchbox (2013), which premiered as part of the International Critics' Week at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and won him multiple awards, Manto (2018), a groundbreaking performance that won him Best Actor at the 2018 Asian Pacific Screen Awards, and Raman Raghav 2.0 for which he won the Fancine Malaga Award in Spain and in Asia Pacific Screen Awards, both in the category of Best Actor. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the only Actor in the world to have 8 films officially selected and screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

In spite of being very busy with film shoots, Siddiqui continues to take time out to farm in his native Uttar Pradesh. He is an active motivational speaker, drawing on his struggles and experiences to inspire. He stars in two Emmy nominated series, Sacred Games (2019), a two-season Netflix original series for which he was conferred with the GQ – Men of the Year Award 2018 for the second time and United Kingdom's McMafia directed by James Watkins. Recently Nawazuddin Siddiqui was awarded with the highest honorary, The Lesley Ho Asian Film Talent Award at the prestigious Singapore International Film Festival for his globally appreciated series Sacred Games duology.

Siddiqui was born on 19 May 1974 in Budhana, a small town and tehsil in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, into a zamindari Muslim family of Lambardars. He is the eldest of his eight siblings.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar. Following this, he worked as a chemist in Vadodara for a year, before leaving for Delhi in search of a new job. Once in Delhi, he was instantly drawn to acting after watching a play. In pursuit of securing admission at the National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi, he acted in over ten plays with a group of friends, to fulfill one of the criteria for admission.

Siddiqui went to the National School of Drama, New Delhi. After graduating from NSD in 1999, he moved to Mumbai.

Siddiqui made his Bollywood debut in the year 1999, with a small role in the Aamir Khan starrer Sarfarosh. He then appeared in Ram Gopal Varma's Shool (1999), Jungle (2000); and Rajkumar Hirani's Munnabhai MBBS (2003). After moving to Mumbai he tried to get work in television serials, but did not achieve much success. He did a short film, The Bypass in 2003, where he appeared with Irrfan Khan. Beyond that between 2002–05, he was largely out of work, and lived in a flat that he shared with four other people, and survived by conducting occasional acting workshops. In 2004, which was one of the worst years of his struggle, he couldn't pay any rent. He asked an NSD senior if he could stay with him. The senior allowed him to share his apartment in Goregaon if he was willing to cook meals for him.

In 2007, Black Friday was a nominee for Best Film ( Golden Leopard), In 2009, he appeared in a cameo role in the song "Emotional Atyachar" in the movie Dev D in his role of Rangila, along with his duet partner Rasila (known together as Patna ke Presley). In the same year, he appeared in New York (2009). However, it was his role of a journalist in Anusha Rizvi's Peepli Live (2010), that first got him wide recognition as an actor. In 2012, he appeared in Prashant Bhargava's Patang : The Kite (2012) which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival, for which Siddiqui's performance was praised by film critic Roger Ebert, a role which "transformed his acting style". The film was subsequently released in the U.S. and Canada, and garnered much attention with rave reviews from the New York Times.

He then appeared in Kahaani (2012), in which he played the archetypal short-tempered intelligence officer Khan. Anurag Kashyap's gangster epic Gangs of Wasseypur followed, which furthered his fame. He played his first primary role as Sonu Duggal in Ashim Ahluwalia's Miss Lovely, which premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, a role Siddiqui describes as his "most real performance so far." Siddiqui then followed this up with the sequel to Gangs of Wasseypur. In 2013, he played the lead role in the horror flick Aatma. He appeared in Aamir Khan's 2012 release Talash.In 2014, he played lead antagonist Shiv Gajra, in the blockbuster Kick.

In 2015, Siddiqui's films Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Manjhi - The Mountain Man were released, and he was praised for his roles. Siddiqui received the Special Jury Award at the 2012 National Film Awards. and the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2013.

Celebrated author Paulo Coelho had recommended Sacred Games to his Twitter followers and lauded Nawazuddin's work calling it "One of the best series on Netflix with the great actor Nawazuddin"

Siddiqui lives in Mumbai with his younger brother, Shamas Nawab Siddiqui who is a director. Nawazuddin is married to Aaliya and they have a daughter, Shora, and a son, Yaani, who was born on the actor's 41st birthday. On 19 May 2020, his wife Aaliya revealed in an interview to The Indian Express newspaper that she had sent a legal notice seeking divorce to end their 11 years of marriage and reverting to her original name Anjana Kishor Pandey.

In spite of being very busy with film shoots, Siddiqui continues to take time out to do farming in his native place in Uttar Pradesh. He aims to educate the farmers about the new techniques available and how they can help them for the better. He also implemented new irrigation techniques in Budhana, which helped the farmers there tremendously.

Siddiqui's first lead role in a feature film was in Prashant Bhargava's Patang, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, for which Nawazuddin's performance has been praised by noted film critic Roger Ebert (awarding the film 4/4 stars), a role which "transformed his acting style".

He appeared in four major films of 2012 –Kahaani (2012), Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), Gangs of Wasseypur – Part 2 (2012) and Talaash (2012), all of which earned him wide critical reception and awards including Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor, Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Male both for his role as Taimur in Talaash: The Answer Lies Within as well as Stardust Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Gangs of Wasseypur.

Siddiqui was awarded the Special Jury Award at the 60th National Film Awards 2012, for his work in the films Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur, Dekh Indian Circus and Talaash.

International recognition