Bollywood’s powerhouse actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently stepped into the spotlight not for a film, but to clear the air about long-running rumours of a fallout with his late ‘The Lunchbox’ co-star, the legendary Irrfan Khan.
And trust us, it’s all sweetness, not bitterness!
Clearing the rumours
In a candid chat with Hindi Rush, Nawazuddin didn’t hold back. When asked about the alleged tension with Irrfan, he laughed off the gossip.
“That was just the news. I don’t think everything reported in the news is the truth,” he said. According to him, the film’s tiny budget left no room for drama off-screen. “We couldn’t spend time on such useless things,” he added.
A brotherly bond
If you ever thought their relationship was just professional, think again. Nawazuddin opened up about seeing Irrfan as more than a co-star.
“Irrfan bhai was my senior, and we shared a very long association. Even when he was preparing for his Hollywood films, I would be with him all the time. I’d read lines with him, give him cues, just so he could rehearse. His aashirvaad has always been there. I saw him as an older brother,” he said.
‘The Lunchbox’ magic
Released in 2013, ‘The Lunchbox’ was a story of a lonely man (Irrfan Khan) and a lovelorn wife (Nimrat Kaur), brought together by a wrong lunch delivery. The film not only warmed hearts but also made waves internationally, screening at Cannes, Zurich, London, and Toronto.
It even got a BAFTA nomination in the “Film Not in the English Language” category.
Nawazuddin also revealed that his bond with Irrfan goes way back, even before the 2000s. In 2007, Irrfan directed him in an hour-long film called ‘Alvida’. Sadly, the nation lost Irrfan in 2020 at the age of 53 after his battle with a neuroendocrine tumour.