We Should Not Feel Our Films Are Inferior To Foreign Ones: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui says he feels he is presently the highest paid actor in Bollywood in terms of acting.

In an appearance in Aap Ki Adalat, India TV on Saturday, the critically acclaimed actor, known for portraying complex characters with ease, said: “I am the highest paid actor in industry as far as acting is concerned. I did not have to ask. They (filmmakers) themselves started paying me this.”

The actor, popular for films like Gangs Of Wasseypur, The Lunchbox and Raman Raghav 2.0, wonders why the Indian film industry is obsessed with Hollywood.

“I do not know why there is an inferiority complex among us... Everybody here wants to work in Hollywood and become big. I can’t understand why we have this complex. When we watch films from a powerful country, we feel somewhat inferior. We think our films are not up to their level, but at present, we should feel proud of our films. We are making films with very good content here.”

Nawazuddin will next be seen in Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, in which he has some intimate scenes with actor Bidita Bag.

Earlier, actor Chitrangada Singh was a part of the movie, but she had walked out it.

Commenting on that, Nawazuddin said: “She left when half of the shooting was over. Actually our director (Kushan Nandy) wanted some more kissing scenes, and she said, ‘Enough is enough, I won’t be able to do any more scenes, and left’.”

He said he felt “uncomfortable” initially while doing kissing scenes, but became used to it.

Narrating an incident with Huma Qureshi during the shoot of Gangs of Wasseypur, he said: “We had to do a romantic scene, and she started addressing me as Nawaz bhai. I went to the director Anurag Kashyap and said, ‘She is calling me bhai, how can I do the scene?’”