Nawazuddin Siddiqui says his mansion costs more than what you’d imagine: ‘Chaar-paanch filmon mein nahi banta woh’
Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui said that he was able to afford a mansion in Mumbai not because of the handful of commercial films that he has done, but thanks to a long and successful career. In an interview, he said that his house costs more than what one would imagine.
He told Bollywood Hungama that he would not have been able to afford it with just four or five commercial movies; it happened because he has been working for several years.
Nawaz said, “Yeh toh maine chaar-paanch filmein ki hongi. Jo mera bungalow hai usse bhi bohot mehenga hai. Chaar-paanch filmon mein nahi banta woh. Dusri filmein jo hain, unme bhi aisa nahi hai ke… Haan, kuch filmein hain jinme paisa nahi hai, lekin mujhe achchi lag rahi hain, jaise Manto, toh maine free mein bhi ki hain, aur aage bhi karunga (These are just four or five films. My house costs more than that. I couldn’t have been able to afford it with just four or five films. There are some films that I’ve done for free, though, and I will continue to do this, if I believe in them).”
Defending Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan in particular, Nawaz continued, “For example, commercial filmon mein bhi meaningful film bhi hoti hain, jaise Bajrangi Bhaijaan thi. Bohot kuch leke jaate hain aap, ghar jaate hain toh bohot kuch sochte hain aap. Judaav waali baat kar rahi hai woh film, agar tudaav wali baat kare, woh cinema nahi kuch aur hai (There are meaningful commercial films as well, like Bajrangi Bhaijaan. That’s a film that makes you think. It unites people. Films that divide people aren’t films).”
The actor lashed out at the state of mainstream Indian films in the same interview, and said that he is disappointed in the kind of movies that are becoming hits these days. He said that because of the pandemic, he had assumed that audiences would expand their tastes, but that doesn’t appear to have happened, especially if you consider the kind of films that are becoming box office successes these days.
