Nawazuddin’s 50-60 Comic Roles Before His Russian Turning Point
Nawazuddin Siddiqui says he played 50–60 comic plays at NSD before Russian director Valentine Teplyakov's Chekhov production unlocked his intense side.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui has built a career on characters who unsettle us: Faizal Khan, Ganesh Gaitonde, Ramanna. But in an exclusive chat with Bollywood Bubble, the actor admitted the industry once saw him in a completely different light — as the comic relief.
A campus label he couldn’t shake
Long before the gangster roles, Siddiqui was a National School of Drama student who kept landing comedy parts. He said he performed in 50–60 plays during that period, and every single one was comic — though the humour ranged from slapstick to something more understated.
The label stuck until a visiting director offered something else.
The Russian production that changed the narrative
Russian director Valentine Teplyakov came to the campus and staged Evano by Anton Chekhov. Siddiqui was cast in a role that demanded intensity — his first time attempting that kind of performance.
The audience response made people rethink what he could do. In his words, “It also made me realise my own potential to explore different kinds of roles.”
From one intense part to a filmography of them
That breakthrough, as Siddiqui tells it, became a turning point. His later work is full of the intense characters that now define him:
- Faizal Khan in the Gangs of Wasseypur franchise.
- Ramanna in Raman Raghav 2.0.
- Ganesh Gaitonde in Sacred Games.
- Manto in the 2018 biographical drama.
Before that, he had made his Bollywood debut with a small role in Aamir Khan’s Sarfarosh in 1999, and waited over a decade for his first lead in the 2012 film Patang. The range is now global — but it started with one unexpected Chekhov role at drama school.
What he has coming up
Siddiqui’s slate includes Section 108, Noorani Chehra, Tumbad 2, Sangeen and The Great Escape Faraar. He also picked up a Special Jury Award at the National Film Awards in 2012, a reminder of how far the “comic actor” has travelled.
Source: Bollywood Bubble
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