Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has made a name for himself with incredibly layered roles and he is now branching out as a producer as well. Interestingly, apart from being an actor and producer, Nawaz has contributed to Bollywood as an acting coach as well. He recently revealed in an interview that he helped Ranveer Singh before his debut film Band Baaja Baarat, a role that made Ranveer a household name almost overnight.
While making an appearance on Pinkvilla’s YouTube channel, Nawaz talked about his career in detail and shared anecdotes from several parts of his life in the industry. A notable chapter had the Gangs of Wasseypur actor helping young actors to prepare for auditions and roles in Bollywood. Among the many he trained in his workshops, he also trained Ranveer Singh.
“I trained Ranveer for a while for his role in Band Baaja Baarat, and in one sense, I had become the ‘workshop guy’. I used to say that whoever wants to be an actor and get launched, I am there for you. Even though he was in the workshop, I don’t believe you actually teach acting; he had his own capabilities. All I did was show him several ways to use that skill, but at the end of the day, the person has to do it themselves.”
While talking about acting workshops and acting schools, Nawaz noted that every time a film with a new flavour or a twist comes along, it always has theatre artists in it. “Places like NSD have a huge part to play in whatever our industry is today, and all realistic movies have actors who have come from these institutions.”
As mentioned before, Band Baaja Baarat put Ranveer Singh on the map, but even though he was trained by Nawaz, there was a time when his casting as the protagonist was not supported by many. Director Karan Johar had actually advised producer Aditya Chopra not to cast Ranveer in the film. In an episode of Koffee With Karan, the director recalled the story and shared that he thought Ranveer was an assistant director on the film. “I was meeting Yash uncle (Yash Chopra) for lunch. So some assistant directors were playing table tennis. Aditya Chopra pointed out that one of those boys is not AD; he is the boy who is starring in Band Baaja Baaraat. I said, ‘Who?’”
Karan admitted that even though Aditya was hopeful regarding Ranveer, he had no hopes for the film even after the shooting was completed and posters were released. “I saw the poster of the film, and I told them that they have to change this poster. I was like, ‘I have no hope. I’m not going to go and see this film because Aditya never calls me for any previews anymore. I went to see this film, and I was like, ‘Oh my god. He’s a movie star,’” added Karan.
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Since then, Karan and Ranveer’s relationship has only blossomed, and it even led to the blockbuster film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahanni (2023). The film also starred Alia Bhatt, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi.
