Nawazuddin Siddiqui talks about colourism in the industry, says 'dark-skinned people are in demand'

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who is busy shooting for his forthcoming transgender-based revenge drama 'Haddi', has mentioned that he is in demand because of his dark complexion and also talked about how stars charge Rs 100 crore fee for films.

In an exclusive interview with ETimes, the actor was asked if he has overcome the challenges of colourism in the industry. To this, he replied, 'If they need fair people, then they need me as well. I am in demand. Dark-skinned people are in demand. The beauty that a camera can capture is very different. That is an honest kind of beauty. If I am honest in front of the camera, the audience won’t realise but even I’ll start looking beautiful.'

He also praised 'Sairat' fame Rinku Rajguru and late Smita Patil, and said, 'Look at Rinku Rajguru in Sairat. Despite having an unconventional look her presence in the film starts mesmerising you after a few minutes. At one point while watching the film I actually remarked, How pretty is she! I honestly believe that the camera captured the beauty of Smita Patil like no other Indian actress. According to me, she was the most beautiful actress on camera. I feel the on-screen beauty is very different from real-world beauty.'

The actor has also talked about actors charging Rs 100 crore fees for the film, and said, 'Looking at box office numbers is the responsibility of the producer. An actor should not be bothered about ticket sales. I see it as a corruption of the craft. Why should an actor be talking about the box office? The stars who charged 100 crores per film are the ones who have ended up harming the films. A small-budget or a modest-budget film doesn’t fail. Every time a film’s budget is beyond the limits of viability, it will be a flop. Actors, directors, and storytellers don’t flop. It’s the film’s budget that makes it a hit or flop.'

On the work front, Nawazuddin Siddiqui also has ‘Tiku Weds Sheru’, ‘Noorani Chehra’, and ‘Adbhut’ in his pipeline.

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