Writer-director Paritosh Painter opened about working with the duo, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shora Siddiqui, his daughter. He said the commitment of the father-daughter duo and their hard work has been instrumental in bringing his Naqaab to Life. 

Naqaab marks Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s return to theatre after decades while he also introduced his daughter Shora Siddiqui on stage. Reflecting on the journey, Paritosh painter revealed getting Nawazuddin on board was his biggest challenge.  He expressed if Nawazuddin had refused to be on board, it would be over for him but an actor who had done every kind of role the idea was to bring something interesting to the table and fortunately Nawazuddin liked the script what the Painter had narrated. He not only agreed to be a part of the play but also contributed his ideas and together the play was developed. 

Nawazuddin Siddiqui was keen to preserve the authenticity of the theatre.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui wanted the feel of the theatre and did not want the LED Screens at the backdrop. He wanted an actual original kind of a set up.

Speaking about Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s daughter Shora Siddiqui, Paritosh Painter was all praises for the efforts she put in preparing for a full-fledged Hindi Play. 

Even though she was initially very raw during the first reading, Shora who has studied in an American School and later in London, has a good command over English language, her Hindi was weak but for this Hindi play she put in lot of efforts and would take help of Painter’s assistant to improve her Hindi. Nawazuddin himself would render unwavering support to his daughter during the rehearsals so that she could grow into her role and deliver at her best. 

Nawazuddin Siddiqui didn’t have to spend too much time on his own rehearsal and took about 10 days for the readings to be completed but he was around and put in his efforts to let Shora catch up for whom he had to do 90 run throughs of the play. 

Shora Siddiqui’s stage debut and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s return to the theatre has become the biggest highlight of the play ‘ Naqaab’.   

The play had its recent opening show in Chicago and received encouraging response from audiences.  ‘Naqaab’ has been one of the biggest highlights for Nawazuddin besides the actor has a packed slate ahead with the upcoming ventures, such as Tumbbad 2, Thamma2, Sector 108, Blind Babu and Faraar spanning across the year ahead with a wide range of genre and characters he would be portraying in each of them.