Has Nawazuddin's autobiography cost him roles and reputation?

By Rohini S

on December 05, 2017

Has Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s controversial autobiography An Ordinary Life done him in? The actor, who had five releases this year in Raees, Jagga Jasoos, Mom, Munna Michael and Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, is suddenly finding the roles are drying up and he’s not got enough work in hand for 2018. Plus, just when he was being considered a hot and promising brand ambassador for consumer products, Nawazuddin is discovering that advertisers are now reluctant to use him and, what’s worse, he’s also likely to lose whatever brands he’s endorsing. Bollywood sources say the actor has overnight become Mr. Unpopular only because of the insensitive book he came out with and his boorish attitude.

Trouble for the actor, who made an impact with Kahaani in 2012 after struggling since his debut with Sarfarosh in 1999, began in October with the release of his autobiography. An Ordinary Man was a sensational kiss-and-tell account written in a racy manner that highlighted the actor’s relationships and sexual dalliances in his struggling years. Unfortunately, the women named by Nawazuddin in the autobiography took strong exception to his revelations. And two among them, his Miss Lovely co-star Niharika Singh and first girlfriend Sunita Rajwar, took the actor to task legally. Further, a Delhi advocate filed a case against the actor with the National Commission for Women under charges of rape, adultery, and insulting the modesty of a woman.

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Nawazuddin promptly withdrew the autobiography and apologized to the women whose characters he had hurt. But the damage has been done. And the actor is fast finding that all the good work he did in films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Badlapur and Gangs of Wasseypur is not coming to his rescue now. Moreover, big companies like Maggie Ketchup, Kenwood Appliances and Janalakshmi Bank (JFS) which got Nawazuddin to endorse their brands are most likely having second thoughts about renewing their contracts with him. With this loss of reputation, the actor is also losing friends in the industry and filmmakers who were keen to work with him are reportedly cold-shouldering Nawazuddin now.

At the moment, the actor only has Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout releasing on December 15 to look forward to. Next year, he has Pushpendra Misra’s comedy Ghoomketu in which he plays the lead. No other films. Reports suggested Nawazuddin was being considered for a negative role opposite Hrithik Roshan in Krissh 4 but nothing came of that. And the romantic comedy Vishal Bhardwaj was producing with Nawazuddin and Aditi Rao Hydari in the lead roles is also not happening because of creative differences between the filmmaker and actor.