Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Tried to keep my interpretation of Manto as restrained as possible

(laughs in delight) To be called handsome by one of the most authoritative publications on American cinema, is something I value. I have never been called handsome in my own country, not by the people I know, not by critics who love my work.So it’s a great kick. As for being compared with Marcello Mastroianni…oh, my God! He is such a brilliant actor, so skilled and with such a riveting screen presence. When I’d see him perform in the films of Vittorio de Sica I’d wonder how that level of naturalism can be achieved in a performance.

I’ve tried to keep my interpretation of Saadat Hassan Manto as restrained and controlled as possible. Manto never raises his voice. Yet he never has a problem in getting people to listen to him. The louder we speak the more we expose our insecurities about losing our identity. We Indians speak too loudly.

You know, I was in Rome for one-and-a-half months shooting for my friend Tannishtha Chatterjee’s film. And I visited the museum devoted to Marcello Mastroianni. Just to see all the artifacts from his films, to savour and experience his life, was a tremendous high for me. Where are the museums for our great actors like Ashok Kumar and Dev Anand?

I don’t admire actors. I admire performances. I saw this Hong Kong film In The Mood For Love. And I was blown away by Tony Leung’s performance, I thought Michal Keaton was mindblowing in Birdman. But my favourite performance is Leonard di Caprio in The Wolf Of Wall Street. He played the character as wildly as possible not bothering about pitch and rhythm. I like that sense of unpredictability in the performance.

I do. I don’t care about any of the trappings of showbiz. I wouldn’t say I don’t care about the money. But that comes from the big commercial films. The money I make doing Genius empowers me to do Manto which I did for free.

Hamare film industry ka ek ajab wasool hai. They know your exact value and they pay you the amount you deserve. Not a penny more not a penny less. So yes, I’d say I am paid well by mainstream cinema.

I sit with my team over every offer. We look at my character and the set-up. The main criteria is to find areas that the characters take me into. They have to be places I haven’t visited before. I won’t repeat myself.

But you can’t compare the sociopath in Raman Raghav with the one on Monsoon Shootout. They were all different, though dark characters.

Very very liberating. I was in Rome and shooting at a stretch for the film without interruptions. That’s how I want to shoot. One film at a time. There will be no overlapping. I like to surrender myself completely to my character. You will never see me using my phone on the sets. I keep away from all distractions while shooting even it means offending someone like you who feels I’ve changed.

Now there is a third female director Debamitra Haasan with whom I’m doing a lighthearted romcom Motichoor Chaknachoor. It’s no different at all from shooting with male directors. Once you are in front of the camera,  the gender of the director becomes irrelevant. The instructions he or she give is all that matters.

I don’t sit and think about the praise. I just move on from one role to another looking for new challenges. Mujhe apne kirdaar mein baariqiyan dhundna bahot pasand hai (I love looking for nuances in my characters).