Nawazuddin Siddiqui says he chose Manto for what he stood for. "He was a big fighter for free speech. Manto had always been true and wrote what he saw around him. The greatest challenge for me was that I was not like him. I am not like Manto. I tell lots of lies. I had to listen to my director and really had to purify myself (I was very polluted) before I began shooting," he says.

The actor was so engrossed in the role of Manto that he "could not think anything else" and was caught in Manto's state of mind for a long time. Now that the shooting is over, he is trying hard to get out of that frame of mind so that he can focus on other films, films that are not necessarily artistic in their content.

"I want to do artistic films, but also commercial films, because I need the money to continue to make films," he says. Siddiqui, who apparently did not charge a "single penny" for Manto, says that he has come a long way in Bollywood and has learnt "to balance between artistic films and commercial films."

The one role he wishes to play is Dilip Kumar's role in Mughal-e-Azam. "People underestimate my personality and say that I can only be a villain and do a certain kind of films but I want to do Dilip Sahab's role and show that I can do Royal-type roles too."

"I want to be both an actor and a star," he concludes.