Siddharth On Portrayal Of Non-Hindi Speaking Characters In Films: We Have A Habit Of Making Them A Caricature

Be it interviews or social media, Siddharth doesn't believe in mincing his words. Amid the Hindi debate which recently sparked off again after Ajay Devgn-Kiccha Sudeep's infamous Twitter spat, the Rang De Basanti actor recently talked about the way non-Hindi speaking characters were normally shown as caricatures in Hindi cinema.

The actor told Indian Express, "If a character is from a non-Hindi speaking belt, we have a habit of making them a caricature."

Citing examples of actors like late Mehmood and Mithun Chakraborty who essayed the role of non-Hindi speaking characters in films, Siddharth said, "From the age of comedians, (we had) actors like Mehmood who made unrealistic and strange portrayals which were very popular at that time. But today, you feel odd watching them. There was Mithun Chakraborty playing some Krishnan Iyer and selling coconut water. In those days liberties were taken in the name of entertainment. All these are cliches. That's not how people speak. Today, if I do anything like that to a Kannada or a Kashmiri character, social media will have a field day."

Workwise, Siddharth will next be seen in Disney+ Hotstar's upcoming web series Escaype Live in which he essays the role of Kannadiga man named Krishna Rangaswamy. The web series helmed by Siddharth Kumar Tewary, explores the dark side of social media through the lives of six people who struggle to win fame and fortune on a social media app.

Besides Siddharth, Escaype Live has a strong ensemble cast which includes names like Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Swastika Mukherjee, Plabita Borthakur, Ritwik Sahore and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan amongst others.