“Their sole reason for declining was that Shyam would be seen as the ‘second lead’. As Nawazuddin Siddiqui, an accomplished actor, is playing Manto, I want to ensure that Shyam is no less,” Nandita wrote.
The actress, who made her directorial debut with “Firaaq,” said for actors road to stardom is only through playing the lead and be “heroic”.
“With every potential actor that I approached, I understood the connection between the roles they choose and the perception of their ‘worth in the market’. In simple terms, the road to stardom is to play the lead, have the girl and be heroic in the climax.
“I thought I could work around this by offering a credit of ‘special appearance’ or ‘many thanks to’ kind of status, elevating it from what they call a second lead. But to no avail,” she continued.
