Ayushmann Khurrana on Nawazuddin Siddiqui racism row: Nawaz is getting lead roles yaar!

Nawazuddin Siddiqui stirred up a storm when he opened up about a casting director saying he is not fair and handsome. His tweet read, “Thank U 4 making me realise dat I cannot b paired along wid d fair & handsome bcz I m dark & not good looking, but I never focus on that.” This definitely garnered the reactions that was expected from it. Now we have Ayushmann Khurrana‘s take on it and it seems according to him, getting lead roles prove that racism doesn’t exist in the industry.

Also read: Nawazuddin Siddiqui on racism: People say, get a fair wife, I wonder why?

Ayushmann was speaking to the press at the Bareilly Ki Barfi trailer launch when he was asked to react on it. He said, “Nawaz is getting lead roles yaar. Earlier there used to be a divide between parallel and commercial cinema. But now it’s all driven by talent. I don’t think so. Meri mummy ne aisa kabhi nahi bola ki dhoop mein khelene mat jao ki kale ho jaoge.” Even Nitesh Tiwari, the director of Dangal who has also penned this film, added that he never faced anything of the sort. Well we think they didn’t get the point that Nawaz was making. If you go by the quote that Sanjay Chauhan, the casting director at whom his tweet pointed, gave to Deccan Chronicle, it clearly depicts that the casting for the supporting actors for Babumoshai Bandookbaaz was done based on Nawaz’s colour. He had said, “We can’t cast fair and handsome people with Nawaz. It would look so weird. You have to take people with distinct features and personalities when pairing them with him.” He later retracted his statement saying he was misquoted. Obviously!

So Ayushmann, it was not about Nawaz not getting lead roles. It was about his colour becoming the basis of getting the supporting cast finalised.