Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently recalled his first day on the sets of Anurag Kashyap’s hit crime-drama, Gangs of Wasseypur, which released in 2012. The actor was reprimanded by the director for overacting. After receiving Kashyap’s feedback, Nawazuddin realised that his approach towards the character of Faizal Khan was wrong.

Speaking on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast on YouTube, Nawazuddin recalled that he was convinced to work in Gangs of Wasseypur after reading a ten-page script given to him by Kashyap. “I wanted to give it my all. Slowly, I started behaving like Al Pacino. On the first day of the shoot, I was completely full of Al Pacino. I was reacting like Al Pacino,” Nawazuddin said.

Anurag Kashyap noticed his behaviour and called Nawazuddin. “We were staying at a small hotel in Banaras, and Anurag called me to his room and said, ‘What are you doing? Are you crazy? Why are you doing this? Why are you overacting? Why are you showing off your power?’ The actor recalled saying, “What are you doing? Are you crazy? Why are you overacting? Why are you showing off your power?”

The next day Nawazuddin had to reshoot everything that he had shot on the first day. The actor said, “Only then did I realise that what I was doing was wrong. The strength that I was showing, I had to remove from my character and behave like a normal person. It was the scene where Definite comes to meet me in jail.”

Gangs of Wasseypur was the film that gave a boost to Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s acting career. His dialogue in the film was, “Your Faizal will take revenge for everyone,” became a part of pop culture. The film also starred Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadha, Pankaj Tripathi, Piyush Mishra and many others.