Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s career has long felt like a quiet barometer for change in the Hindi film industry. His recent reflections carry that same weight, revealing a soft unease beneath years of critical acclaim. Widely credited with shaping India’s OTT turning point through his chilling portrayal of Gaitonde in ‘Sacred Games’, Siddiqui now finds himself caught in a contradiction. Streaming platforms opened doors and pulled in new audiences, yet that very expansion has slowly squeezed the space for small, story led films to find a home in theatres and stay long enough to matter.
The OTT boom and the squeeze on small films
Speaking to Firstpost, Siddiqui sounded less like a star and more like a seasoned observer trying to make sense of a crowded room. The sheer volume of content, he admitted, has made it hard to keep up unless a show or film dominates the conversation online. The OTT wave, in his view, has altered not only how people watch cinema but also how attention is earned. Films that once survived on word of mouth and patient discovery now struggle to even register at the box office. Speed, buzz, and visibility seem to drive choices, often pushing quieter stories into the background.
Siddiqui also looked back at how theatres once shaped viewing habits in subtle ways. A commercial release could spark curiosity and gently guide audiences towards smaller, more personal films. That pathway, he feels, is thinning. “If I do a big ticket entertainer seen by 100 people, at least five of them could show up to watch my smaller films; but I can’t see them anymore either,” he told Firstpost. The loss, for him, is cultural as much as financial. “It is becoming really difficult to release the kind of cinema that we liked,” he added, while also acknowledging that he has taken on several projects for minimal fees simply to keep certain stories alive.
New sequel, uncertain road ahead
Siddiqui is currently seen in ‘Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders’, the sequel to the 2020 crime thriller that earned appreciation for its restrained tone and layered storytelling.
