This actor wants to Escape the “Real World” — But Life Isn’t a Film Set

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui says the “real world scares him,” and he’d rather live inside the comforting bubble of cinema. Admirable honesty? Maybe. But also a surprising confession from someone who has built a career portraying gritty, raw, hyper-real characters drawn straight from India’s harsh realities.

For an actor celebrated for “authenticity,” Nawazuddin’s escape route feels almost ironic. While the rest of the country deals with soaring prices, daily stress, and the chaos of actual life, the star prefers the safety of a scripted universe — where every emotion is rehearsed, every situation has a retake, and every character arc ends neatly. Must be nice.

He admits he cannot “switch on and off,” and that characters linger with him for months. But if the film bubble feels more comfortable than the world the audience lives in, the question is At what point does the obsession with roles become a luxury of avoiding reality altogether?

Chitrangada Singh, too, shared how intense the film’s environment was — but unlike Nawaz, she still finds a way to re-enter real life through music, grounding, and routine. Nawaz, on the other hand, chooses to stay in character because the alternative — the real world — is apparently far more frightening. Most people don’t get to run away from reality. They don’t get to hide behind camera lights, scripts, and curated intensity. While audiences navigate life with no retakes, no director to guide emotions, and no three-month escape into fictional worlds, it feels tone-deaf to hear a superstar romanticize avoiding reality altogether.

Nawazuddin is a brilliant actor — no debate there — but maybe it’s time he steps out of the bubble he treasures so much. Because storytelling draws its power from real people and real struggles. And if an artist chooses to retreat completely from the world that inspires his craft, he risks losing the very connection that made audiences admire him in the first place.