Some years back the most obvious choice to play a psycho criminal or a twisted, wicked character with unconventional looks and a unique dialogue delivery happened to be Irrfan Khan. It began with HAASIL in 2003 and continued in MAQBOOL, CHARAS, AAN, ROG, CHOCOLATE, THE KILLER, DEADLINE and more till he started getting international projects as THE NAMESAKE, A MIGHTY HEART, THE DARJEELING LIMITED and others.
Slowly and steadily he saved himself from getting caught in a typical image trap. And the moment he established himself as a global artist finding his way into Hollywood featuring in much more reputed projects, Bollywood found an instant replacement in Nawazuddin Siddiqui and started creating the same image trap for him casting in all similar looking roles suiting his distinctive personality.
As a result, now you see Nawazuddin mostly roped in to play the odd, unusual characters of a cruel gangster, an eccentric goon, a psycho rapist, mad-in-love courageous villager, merciless serial-killer, clever imposter, sick school teacher, a weird detective, a funny don and more.
Almost all his performances got appreciated but it seems the borderline is here as the latest BABUMOSHAI BANDOOKBAAZ almost kills the brilliant actor yet again presenting him in an identical zone as a coldblooded contract killer who unexpectedly returns to his village for a bloody revenge. A forcibly written character (without a soul), specifically designed to provide some cheap fun and thrills to a particular section of viewers, the film offers nothing new and remains a different version of what you have already seen before in several Nawazuddin Siddiqui films revolving around similar characters.
Probably the first film in the recent times where you feel the actor typically repeating himself and not being impressive throughout, showcasing the same old clichéd mannerisms as witnessed in his earlier films. For instance his portrayal of Babu Bihari in BUBUMOSHAI BANDOOKBAAZ strongly reminds you of both GANGS OF WASSEYPUR (Part 2) and RAMAN RAGHAV 2.0 together creating the feeling of deja-vu. And this is nothing short of an alarming signal for an exceptional, outstanding actor as Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
In short, here we have a powerhouse of talent, who is ready to get exploited in any possible novel way on the silver screen, but probably the writers-directors have no idea what to do with this amazingly gifted artist throwing an open challenge to them.
Assuming Siddiqui also knows the dicey position he is in, hope someone amongst the inventive, new-age filmmakers takes up this challenge soon and we don’t lose an actor like Nawazuddin falling into this noticeable image trap.
Cheers!
(The article also got featured in UC-News mobile app in August 2017)
