Nawazuddin Siddiqui states 'More Than Nepotism, Racism is a Problem' in Bollywood

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has claimed that the Bollywood industry has more of a 'racism problem' than a 'nepotism problem'. In a recent interview, Nawazuddin spoke about the discrimination one faces due to the skin tone in the Hindi film industry.

Speaking about his 2020 Emmy-nominated film Serious Men, the 47-year-old Indian actor told Bollywood Hungama that he has 'fought' racism in the Bollywood industry 'for many years'.

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Nawazuddin said, "Sudhir Mishra has a lot of knowledge about cinema and his thought process is practical. He did not take a conventional heroine for the film. I have to tell you that there is so much racism in our industry. I will be very happy if that girl (Indira Tiwari) is made a heroine once again. Sudhir Mishra did make her a heroine in his film, but I will be happier if the big people in our film industry cast her as a heroine in their films. More than nepotism, there is racism in our industry, and I have been fighting it for years. I hope that brown actresses are also made heroines in films and it is necessary. I am not talking about black and white skin colours, but better films would be made if the biasness towards one particular skin colour is over."

He further added, "Initially, I was rejected in films because of my short height and brown skin. I do not wish to talk about it today because God has given me more than I could ever ask for, many directors have given me more than I deserve. But I want to say that there are many artists out there who lose out on because of skin colour."

Nawazuddin recently earned an International Emmy Awards 2021 nomination in the Best Performance by an Actor category for Serious Men.