For someone who was told he is not “hero material”, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has come a long way in the 25 years since he began his career with a small role in Aamir Khan’s Sarfarosh (1999). In his latest film Costao, he plays the titular character, an honest Customs officer accused of corruption. Based on the real-life story of Costao Fernandes, who fought gold-smuggling in the Goa of the ’90s, the ZEE5 original film is Sejal Shah’s directorial debut.
Having already done two biopics – Manto (2018) and Thackeray (2019) – Nawaz was certain what he did not want to do while approaching the character of Costao. He says often biopics are made to please the actual person, with their flaws being conveniently omitted. “We don’t show their mistakes. Moreover, few actors are ready to work in biopics; you require a different training for that. We either copy (someone) or make them out to be a caricature,” he says.
The core of Costao’s story is about maintaining one’s integrity while navigating their professional lives. Has Nawaz ever had to make compromises in the film industry? “Several times. I have done films for money, which I knew weren’t up to the mark. I have also done mass films to create a balance in my filmography,” says the actor who starred in the Emmy-nominated series, Sacred Games (2019).
While Nawaz is not the only one calling out Bollywood on its lack of creativity and poor storytelling in recent times, what also bothers him is the stress on high budgets. “The so-called commercial films are the biggest flops. If 1,000 films are being made, we only remember three or four. For other films, on which crores have been invested, there is no accountability,” says the 50-year-old. The Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012) actor adds, “This hasn’t just affected me, it has impacted Naseer sahab (Naseeruddin Shah), Om Puri, Manoj Bajpayee and Irrfan (Khan) bhai. The whole world says they are great actors but nobody made a 25-crore film with them. A newbie who comes from a film background gets those chances.”
Notwithstanding all his frustrations with the Hindi film industry, cinema, for Nawaz, continues to be all about the character: “For me, it is not about the story. I like going deeper into a character’s mind. Aur jitna local hota hai, utna global hota hai (the more local the film, the greater the global appeal). I wish I could do more such films. The focus, however, is still on shock value and flashy things. If this continues, filmmaking will become a rich people’s game and that’s dangerous. People are making 100 crore worth of guns for their films, humaare 20 crore judd jaayen, poori film ke liye woh bhi bahut badi baat hai (It would be a huge deal if we get a 20 crore budget for a film).”
