Why Nawazuddin Siddique feels ‘guilty’ after taking money for 2019 film Petta

In an era when pan-Indian stars and regional cinemas had national appeal, many actors from one film industry played roles in films from another industry. While films from the southern film industry were also dubbed and released in Hindi, many Hindi film actors also worked in the southern film industry, gradually erasing the boundaries set by the common masses between different industries. Since the actors don’t know much of the local language, most of the time their voices are dubbed by local artists, which works well in most cases.

Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddique, however, felt differently about delivering lines in a language unfamiliar to him. He spoke about his experience playing the main villain in Rajinikanth’s 2019 film Petta. He recently made his Telugu debut in the film Saindhav and was speaking at one of its promotional events.

“After the film was made, I deeply regretted making Petta with Rajini Sir because I felt I was accepting money but I didn’t know what I was doing. I believe I lip-synced when I was prompted to embarrass them. I feel guilty lip-syncing dialogue that I don’t understand,” he said.

He admitted that he didn’t understand the language, but he still participated in the making of the film. “Even when you’re praised later, you want to hide away, and when you get paid for it, you start to wonder if you’re being dishonest. I was weak in what I was paid to do. It’s beyond my comprehension. I feel very bad about it. Sad,” he added.

That’s why Nawazuddin Siddique didn’t want to go through the same experience in his Telugu film Saindhav. He insisted on dubbing lines for the film and made sure he understood the meaning of every word.