An
Incident
Which
Changed
Nawazuddin
Siddiqui's
Life
"I
remember
one
occasion
when
there
was
nothing
in
the
house,
not
even
tea.
My
father
just
had
a
10-rupee
note
which
he
gave
me
to
buy
sugar.
It
was
evening
and
the
streets
were
dark.
When
I
got
to
the
shop,
I
realized
that
I
had
lost
the
note.
I
went
home
terrified
-
we
hadn't
had
so
much
as
a
cup
of
tea
for
the
last
few
days.
My
father
came
back
with
me,
retracing
my
steps
to
search
for
the
note
and
fortunately
we
spotted
it
under
a
cart.
The
moment
I
saw
the
note,
it
was
like
I
got
my
world
back.
I
just
couldn't
believe
my
father
had
no
money.
I
actually
checked
his
kurta
pocket
that
night
when
he
was
asleep,
and
was
horrified
to
find
it
absolutely
empty.
It
shook
me.
For
the
first
time,
I
began
thinking
seriously
about
the
future," he
recalled
in
a
HT
Brunch
interview.
His
Love
For
Films
The
actor
revealed
in
an
interview
that
there
was
a
makeshift
theatre
in
his
village,
and
it
had
only
a
single
projector
and
a
white
sheet
as
a
screen.
"Behind
the
screen,
you
could
see
silhouettes
of
buffaloes
being
taken
to
the
water,
which
became
the
backdrop
to
Mithun's
and
Jeetendra's
dance
sequences.
Our
seats
were
bricks
-
we
sat
on
our
haunches
with
our
knees
bent
to
watch
the
movies,
sometimes
for
as
long
as
five
hours.
No
city
person
can
sit
like
that
for
even
five
minutes,"
he
was
quoted
as
saying.
Nawazuddin's
First
Step
Towards
His
Dream
In
a
Humans
Of
Bombay
post,
Nawazuddin
revealed,
"Our
family
would
watch
Ram
Leela
plays
together.
That
was
my
first
encounter
with
acting.
One
of
my
friends
played
Ram
and
seeing
him
on
stage
left
me
starstruck!
I'd
imagine
playing
the
role
of
Ram
myself!
After
college,
I
worked
as
a
chemist
in
Vadodara.
There,
I
watched
a
play
for
the
first
time.
That
night,
the
thought
of
being
an
actor
became
a
dream.
So
I
studied
at
the
National
School
of
Drama
and
then
went
where
everybody
with
a
dream
of
acting
goes
-
Bombay.
My
parents,
who
weren't
educated
themselves,
supported
me.
They
said
I
could
do
anything
as
long
as
I
was
honest
and
worked
hard."
How
Nawazuddin's
Mother
Motivated
Him
To
Give
His
Best
Shot
"She
motivated
me
to
have
patience
and
faith
in
God's
will.
She
told
me:
‘Even
a
pile
of
garbage
has
a
change
of
fortune
every
12
years.
You
have
only
been
struggling
for
six
years.' She
also
used
to
recite
a
couplet
to
me:
‘Mita
de
apni
hasti
ko,
gar
kuch
martaba
chahe,
ke
daana
khaak
mei
milkar
gul-e-gulzaar
hota
hai.'
This
was
all
very
inspiring,"
Nawazuddin
said
in
an
HT
Brunch
interview.
Dreams
Do
Come
True!
Nawazuddin
Siddiqui
made
his
film
debut
with
a
small
role
in
Aamir
Khan's
1999
film
Sarfarosh.
After
a
string
of
insignificant
roles
in
films,
the
actor
landed
his
first
big
break
with
Anurag
Kashyap's
Black
Friday.
The
year
2012
was
the
turning
point
for
him,
when
he
finally
grabbed
everyone's
attention
with
films
like
Kahaani
and
Gangs
of
Wasseypur.
Since
then,
the
actor
has
been
unstoppable
when
it
comes
to
delivering
top-notch
performances.
With
films
like
Talaash,
Badlapur,
Lunchbox,
Kick,
Bajrangi
Bhaijaan,
Raees
and
the
highly-popular
web-series
Sacred
Games
in
his
acting
repertoire,
in
Nawazuddin's
words,
the
award-winning
actor
has
become
the
‘watch
me'
man!