Meet a Bollywood actor who was once a Watchman, a former chemist, and is now worth Rs 16 billion
From being a watchman, the actor has transformed into someone who everyone watches. He went from being a minor role in Munnabhai MBBS to winning the movie award for lunch box.
Beautiful stories often come from struggles from the past. Today, we’ll talk about a Bollywood star who used to be a watchman and chemist, but now his performance has won millions of hearts.
The actor we are talking about is Nawazuddin Siddiqui, whose outstanding performance in the film has won the hearts of many people. Nawazuddin Siddiqui once revealed his journey of acting among the humans of the Mumbai Post. He recalls that the idea of becoming an actor came to him first after watching a scene with Vadodara, who worked as a chemist after attending college.
He said: “Our family would watch Ram Leela play together. That was my first time with a performance. A friend of mine played Ram and seeing him on stage made me feel star! I imagined myself playing Ram’s own role! After college, I worked as a chemist in Vadodara. There, I watched a scene for the first time.
Nawazuddin shared that entering the National Academy of Drama brought him to Mumbai, but it took him nearly a month to adapt to the city of dreams. He mentioned: “So, I studied at the National Academy of Drama and went to the people that everyone dreamed of – Mumbai… My first impression of Mumbai was everything speed.
Nawazuddin, who comes from a peasant family and is the guiding figure of his eight siblings, shared that he often had to borrow money from his friends to survive in Mumbai.
He said: “Finally speaking, I’m not good. I’ll borrow money from friends and say I’ll return them in two days. Two days later I’ll borrow money from someone else and pay the first person. I live in an apartment with four other people – that’s about survival…but my family is always back. They keep telling me not to give up!”
Have served as watchman
He further mentioned: “I’m doing weird jobs – sometimes a watchman, sometimes selling coriander. I even held a show workshop! I must have auditions 100 times and played all my roles, no matter how small it took. No matter how 12 years it took. I got a “breakthrough”. It’s not easy – the struggle isn’t pretty, just struggle.
But he did. Nawazuddin Siddiqui won the Filmfare Award from playing a smaller role in Munnabhai MBBS to lunch box. He once did not attract attention in Sarfarosh, but was later widely recognized as Ganesh Gaitonde. From being a watchman, he became the one who everyone watched. And he hasn’t finished yet – his journey in the cinema continues.
According to reports, the actor is now worth Rs 1.6 crore.
