Nawazuddin Siddiqui says he is jealous of Rishab Shetty, Kantara star reacts

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has said that he is jealous of actor-filmmaker Rishab Shetty before clarifying that it is not the ‘negative’ kind of jealousy. The Kannada filmmaker also responded to the statement and explained why the actor felt it. (Also read: Nawazuddin Siddiqui seen with daughter Shora)

Rishab is riding high on the success of his Kannada film, Kantara, which he directed and also starred in. The film, initially released in Kannada, soared at the ticket windows and the word-of-mouth lent such a boost to its business that the film was soon released in many other dubbed languages, including Hindi.

Rishab and Nawaz were speaking on the sidelines of an event when Nawazuddin said, “The entire country saw Risabh and is shocked. He did not promote it or anything, he slipped in quietly and broke all impressed one and all. If someone does good work, a sense of jealousy (crops in) and at the same time, the urge to compete inspires."

When the reporter reminded Nawazuddin that he used the word jealousy, the actor added, "Of course jealousy. It happens, because he is doing such good work. It is not that (negative) kind of jealousy but it makes you stand on your toes that even I have to work hard," he added.

Rishab responded to the appreciation and showered Nawazuddin with similar words. He said, “I have watched so many of Nawaz bhai’s movies and watched his journey filled with hard work and effort. He is like us, we are middle-class people with no background but we want to come into the industry and make it big. He is a very big inspiration. He has come from theatre and done so many small roles (before making it big). Even we have done such small roles in Kannada cinema before we got our big break. He is our senior, we have the same journey."

Kantara catapulted Rishab to nationwide fame but he insists he wants to continue making films in Kannada and has no plans of moving to Bollywood. The film is now streaming on Prime Video in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada and on Netflix in Hindi.

Nawazuddin will soon feature in Kangana Ranaut's production Tiku weds Sheru alongside Avneet Kaur. The film is slated for a digital release on Prime Video.