Nawazuddin Siddiqui on failure of second season of Sacred Games: ‘People won’t accept it if…’

Nawazuddin Siddiqui needs no introduction. The actor can transform himself into any character and has earned a special place in the hearts of the audience with his work. Nawazuddin’s character Ganesh Gaitonde from ‘Sacred Games’ became immensely popular and who can forget his iconic dialogues in the series, ‘Kabhi Kabhi lagta hai ki apun hi Bhagwan hai’.

Nawazuddin starred in both seasons of Sacred Games, but for him, season 1 will always have a special place.

In a conversation with ANI, he revealed his preference for season 1 and why he feels season 2 was not as successful as the previous season and failed to resonate with the audience.

He shared which season he liked best, saying, “Of course season 1,” and added what didn’t work in season 2, saying, “There were new characters, so it didn’t work. There were 3-4 new characters, so it didn’t work at all. Because what happens is that if you weaken the character that people initially loved, people won’t accept it.”

‘Sacred Games’ is an Indian neo-noir crime drama film based on Vikram Chandra’s 2006 novel of the same name. It revolves around Sartaj (Saif Ali Khan), a police officer, and his encounter with Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), the world’s most wanted criminal, and what happens after their encounter.

Besides Saif and Nawazuddin, the other cast includes Radhika Apte, Girish Kulkarni, Neeraj Kabi, Jeetendra Joshi, Rajshri Deshpande, Karan Wahi, Sukhmani Sadana, Aamir Bashir, Jatin Sarna, Elnaaz Norouzi, Pankaj Tripathi, Kubbra Sait, Surveen Chawla, Kalki Koechlin , Ranvir Shorey and Amruta Subhash.

The actor added that audiences connect with certain characters and people often lose interest if they are missing or poorly portrayed.

He gave an example of his favorite American crime series, ‘Narcos’, which was based on the story of a Colombian narco-terrorist Pablo Escobar, played by Wagner Moura, saying: “When I saw the gangster series ‘Narcos’, and the character of Pablo Escobar, I just went crazy after watching the first season. However, in the second season his character was made weak. So why should I watch it? I had a connection with him. I was emotionally connected to him. The same thing happened with ‘Sacred of Games 2’.”

Talking about his iconic character Ganesh Gaitonde and the famous dialogue ‘Kabhi Kabhi lagta hai ki apun hi Bhagwan hai’, which has spawned a number of memes, he said, “I always wondered what this dialogue meant. I found it strange. I didn’t expect it to become this (popular) back then.”

He added that it is difficult to recreate the charm of the original. “There is a kind of energy of the director and actors and a magical atmosphere that cannot be recreated.” Nawazuddin is known for his roles in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, ‘The Lunchbox’, ‘Raman Raghav 2.0’ and ‘Manto’, among others. He has won numerous awards, including a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award.