Nawazuddin Siddiqui says he accepted small roles to survive

While recalling the journey of becoming an actor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui on Tuesday said that initially, he accepted small roles for survival as he had no other alternative.

He was speaking on the topic - 'Journey as an Actor' at the International Film Festival of India, underway in Goa.

"I was offered small roles which I accepted for survival then. I had no other alternative. But I never got disappointed. It is the difficult time that makes you strong," he said.

He said, "if you have to begin from zero, you have to first unlearn what you have learnt".

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who has appeared in some of Bollywood's major films such as 'Black Friday', 'New York', 'Peepli Live', 'Kahani', and 'Gangs of Wasseypur', spoke about struggles and challenges.

Nawazuddin said that after graduating from college, he worked as a chemist in a petrochemical company for a short while. However, to fulfill the dream of becoming an actor, he got associated with theatre.

Eventually, he got admitted to the National School of Drama (NSD) in Delhi.

Responding to a question on how 'Gangs of Wasseypur' turned out to be a turning point in his acting career, he said that the movie made him believe in himself.

"I was confident that my struggles will get over after this and people will appreciate this movie," he said.

Nawazuddin also shared his experience of working on web-series on Netflix and other OTT platforms.

He said that initially, he was hesitant to work in series on OTT platforms as he had no idea about them.

However, Anurag Kashyap convinced him for working on this platform. It is to be noted that Sacred Games web series turned out to be a big hit on Netflix.

Nawazuddin also shared his words of wisdom on playing versatile roles in the biopic 'Manto', where he played the role of prominent Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto, and 'Thackeray', in which he played the role of Bal Thackeray.

"Acting is my hobby and I don't get tired of it. Acting is my everything, it's my life. Even one life is not enough to satiate my thirst for acting," he said, adding it motivates him. (KB/IANS)