Nawaaz wins award for unreleased film

As an actor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has proved his mettle time and again, making waves nationally as well as globally. Recently, he added yet another feather to his cap, when he won the Best Actor award at the 15th New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) for his yet-to-be-released film, Haraamkhor (currently, there is no clarity on the film’s release in India). Interestingly, when the announcement came in, Nawaz was caught unawares, since he is currently shooting (for Bajrangi Bhaijaan) in Kashmir. “Although the actor was aware that he was nominated for the award, the news of his win came as a surprise.

For the past few weeks, he has been almost cut off from other things, as the shoot of Kabir’s (Khan; director) film is keeping him busy. And since he has been shuttling from one place to another in Kashmir for the shoot, his mobile phone has also been facing network issues,” says an insider. Nawazuddin came to know about the award when he reached Sonmarg on Sunday (May 10), and his cell phone caught network again. “He got the news through the Twitter page of NYIFF. Of course, he was elated, especially since he feels that Shlok (Sharma; director of Haraamkhor) has worked really hard on the film,” adds the insider.

Since he is in the middle of his shooting schedule, it wasn’t possible for Nawaz to travel to New York, USA, to personally collect the award. “The film that he is currently working on is slated to release on Eid this year. So, there’s not much time left for the entire team to wrap up the shoot,” adds the insider. When contacted, Nawaz said, “I feel honoured to have received such a prestigious award at such a big festival. I sincerely thank everyone for all the love and support.”