The king of biopics

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who will soon be seen in the biographical film Manto, reveals that he had no idea who Manto was when he was offered the film by writer-director Nandita Das in 2013.

“Nandita spoke to me about the film five years ago and I said yes to it. Then, I had not read Manto and I didn’t know anything about him. I started finding out only when Nandita narrated the story to me,” he says. Nawaz, who usually loves to improvise, also says that he hasn’t tried to do that with this film. “I try and put a bit of myself into my role. But what can I do when the director knows much more than I do about the subject? I completely surrendered myself to Nandita,” he confesses.

The actor is also playing the lead role in a biopic based on the life of former Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.