Late actor Irrfan Khan once ended up in tears by watching a monologue performance of actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a single shot, as stated by director Kabir Khan. Nawaz was signed in by Kabir for a small role in Katrina Kaif and John Abraham’s New York released in 2009.
Nawazuddin was in the garb of Zilgai in the movie who was held as a suspect post the 9/11 mishap and was tortured during interrogation.
In conversation with Humans of Cinema, Kabir shared Nawazuddin’s casting for the project, for which he was asked by many, “Ye case study aapko kaha mila (Where did you find this case study)”. The filmmaker then shared that Nawaz was for real but not an actor. “In all my career, I have only seen one audition,and that happens to be Nawaz’s.”
Kabir reminisced the day when Nawaz’s monologue for the 2009 film was filmed in New York. “It was a non-stop three-four minutes’ take and I never took another take… because when I said cut, some of the people in the crew were crying and some of them were clapping. I remember Irrfan walking in half an hour later. He told me ‘everyone’s talking about Nawaz’s peformance’. I took Irrfan to the monitor and I played it and as he was watching it, tears were streaming down Irrfan’s face. He asked ‘kaha hai yaar Nawaz (Where is Nawaz),’ went and hugged Nawaz. What a moment it was.”
Irrfan and Nawaz were seen together in films like The Lunchbox and Bypaas.
