Until recently Nawazuddin Siddiqui never thought he would dance on screen. “I had a mental block about dancing. I was made to understand that dancing on-screen is a very Bollywood thing, something that serious actors don’t do. So even the thought of dancing would make me embarrassed,” confesses Nawaz.
It took him years to get over his inhibitions about dancing. “When I was asked to dance in my first music video Baarish Ki Jaaye I decided to finally take the plunge. In recent times I’ve been tempted. Lekin mauqa hi nahin mila. The kind of roles that I do hardly allow me to dance. As I said, I believed that Bollywood dancing is not for serious actors. Of course, there are pure classical dance forms like Bharat Natyam and Kathak Kali which are highly respected. But somehow Bollywood dancing is considered lowbrow, too massy.”
Doing Bollywood dancing in the video with his co-star Sunanda Sharma was a liberating experience for Nawaz. “I really enjoyed dancing. I want to do more of it. But first, let’s see how viewers react to Baarish Ki Jaye. I hope they enjoy watching me dance as much as I enjoyed dancing.”
Image source: SpotboyE archives