Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who was not paid Rs 2500 for his work on Manoj Bajpayee-Raveena Tandon's Shool, devised a clever way to recoup it

Before he became a household name in the movie industry, Nawazuddin Siddiqui appeared in a slew of small roles. Shool, directed by Eeshwar Nivas and produced by Ram Gopal Varma and released in 1999, was one such film. Manoj Bajpayee and Raveena Tandon played the lead roles, and Nawazuddin played a restaurant waiter.

Nawazuddin recently reported that he was not paid for his part in the movie despite being promised 2,500, and that he has yet to receive the amount. He remembered that after touring the production office on a regular basis for six to seven months to claim the cash, he devised a clever scheme to recover it without anyone noticing.

In an interview  Nawazuddin says “I have small roles in several films, I don't even tell people about many of them, but I am there. I needed money, it was a means of survival. I played a waiter in Shool who takes the order from Manoj Bajpayee and Raveena Tandon. They said they will pay me ₹2,500, but I have never gotten it. There have been many such cases, but this one I remember very well.”

He further added “6-7 mahine tak maine office ke chakkar kaate, dhai hazaar rupay ke liye. Wo nahi mile, but khaana mil jaata tha. Maine kya kiya baad mein, chalaaki kya ki, main khaane ke time mein phochta tha unke office mein. To wo meri halat ko dekhke (bolte the) 'khaana khaayega?' Maine, 'haa,' (Unhone bola) 'paise to nahi milenge par khaana khaa le aaja tu,' maine kaha 'chal thik hai'. To main aise ek dhed mahine tak khaaya maine khaana to mere paise jo hain na barabar ho gaye.”

Nawazuddin will next be seen in Heropanti 2, starring Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria. The film, directed by Ahmed Khan, is a sequel to Tiger's debut film, Heropanti, which was released in 2014. In the film, Nawaz plays a feared criminal named Laila. It will be released in theatres on April 29.