Looks like Nawazuddin Siddiqui is not a fan of OTT shows. The 47-year-old actor has played the megalomaniac don Ganesh Gaitonde in Netflix’s Sacred Games and Dilly Mahmood in Amazon Prime Video’s McMafia, but post that he hasn’t been in another series. “In Indian OTT, it’s quantity over quality,” the actor says. “I don’t even feel like watching shows. During that time I would see two movies on streaming services instead. Recently, I saw three films, Coda, King Richard, and Drive My Car.”
The Serious Men actor had said in the past that OTT has become a ‘dumping ground’ for redundant content. Ask him if he would ever venture again into the online space, and he says, “I would never do an OTT show but I might do a web film.” Even if his series repertoire might not be long, there is going to be no dearth of Nawaz on the big screen. This year, he will be seen in Kushan Nandy’s Jogira Sara Ra Ra, opposite Neha Sharma. There is also Kangana Ranaut’s Tiku Weds Sheru in the works. Across borders, Nawaz will also feature in Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s American-Bangladeshi-Indian drama film No Land’s Man.
His latest, however, is the Ahmed Khan directorial Heropanti 2, where he will be putting on the villain’s garb again. In previous interviews, Nawaz has said that when he approaches a character, especially a negative one, he is looking for its ideology. “Every villain either wants money or power. Laila (his character in the film) wants to rule over the internet and wants to know people’s secrets. How he does it and what schemes he devises with it will make up the character’s politics.”
Of late, Nawaz, who appeared in Rajinikanth’s Petta, agrees that South Indian films like SS Rajamouli’s RRR and the Yash’s KGF films have made waves across the country though he thinks it is just a ‘phase’. He also counters the claim that Bollywood is lagging in terms of content, “Bollywood is not lacking,” he argues. “This is just an experience of two to three months. In this industry, people’s point of view changes every week. When some industry makes hit films we speak in their favour. This is just a phase.” The same applies to our perception of superstars, he feels. “If a star’s film flops, powers get into action to end their career. Then they come back, give a hit and our attitude changes. If a Hindi film becomes a hit soon, we will start talking about Bollywood again.”
As for himself, the Manto actor says he has no interest in the box-office and is always looking for ‘good cinema’. “There will be films which will make Rs 1,000 crore or even Rs 2,000 crore. I don’t care about them. In the midst of this, we will come across a small, honest film. I will back that,” he concludes.