A report originating from the South states that Nawazuddin Siddiqui will play the arch-villain in Tamil superstar Vijay’s next, tentatively titled Thalapathy 65 . It is being directed by Nelson Dilip Kumar.

Online portals claim Nawazzuddin is to play the main antagonist opposite Vijay. But when I reached out to Nawaz he completely denied it. “For now I’m done with dark negative roles. There is no truth to this rumour.”

It may be recalled that last year during the nationwide lockdown Nawaz was in his hometown doing a whole lot of introspection and watching the best of world cinema. He came to the conclusion that he needed to change the direction of his career.

Says Nawaz, “There is so much to learn from every actor. During the lockdown I watched films from all over the world. Every film, every performance has something to teach me. There are so many different platforms for acting from the stage to streetplays to cinema. I don’t admire actors. I admire performances. I saw this Hong Kong film In The Mood For Love.And I was blown away by Tony Leung’s performance. I thought Michal Keaton was mindblowing in Birdman. But my favourite performance is Leonard di Caprio in Wolf Of Wall Street. He played the character as wildly as possible not bothering about pitch and rhythm.I like that sense of unpredictability in the performance.”