I was never offered Raees: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

The endless will-he-won’t-he speculation on Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s presence in Rahul Dholakia’s Raees can finally be put to permanent rest with the harried actor rubbishing the reports. Says the exasperated actor, “I am at a loss to understand where these reports came from! I was never offered Raees. So the question of accepting or not accepting the film doesn’t arise. Someone in the media decided I was part of the film. Then they decided I wasn’t going to be part of it. All this drama is very distracting and embarrassing.” Nawaz says he shares a terrific rapport with the Raees producer Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. “I did Talaash with them. And I was very happy with the outcome. I share a great relationship with them. I’d love to work with them again. In fact Excel (Farhan and Sidhwani’s production company) did offer me another film which I couldn’t do because of date problems. But Raees never came to me.” The role in Raees apparently requires the actor to put on 20 kilos. “Even if I ate chocolates, sweets and pizzas round-the-clock my metabolism won’t allow me to put on that kind weight. So there is no question of doing the role.” Nawaz now gears up to plunge into Sajid Nadiadwala’s Kick. “I’ve a fabulous role in the film. Plus, I’ve some really exciting scenes with Salman Khan. Kick is my most commercial project to date. It’s the kind of action films I used to watch and enjoy as a child. I never knew I’d actually be a part of one of those.”