Meet Chand Nawab: Nawazuddin's inspiration in Bajrangi Bhaijaan

By now everyone knows that Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a tale of Salman Khan sneaking into Pakistan to reunite a speech-impaired little girl from across the border, who was left behind in India, with her family.

By now everyone knows that Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a tale of Salman Khan sneaking into Pakistan to reunite a speech-impaired little girl from across the border, who was left behind in India, with her family.

Salman-Khan-and-Nawazuddin-Siddiqui-in-a-still-from-Bajrangi-Bhaijaan

But amidst the Bollywood make-believe is a hint of real life – Salman is helped on the other side of the border by Pakistani journalist Chand Nawab, who was apparently inspired by a real character.

If you’ve never heard of Chand Nawab, here’s the video that captured him in all his glory and went viral six years ago. At the time, Nawab was with Karachi-based Indus News and some of his colleagues compiled a series of flubs he made while doing a P2C (piece-to-camera) for a report about people leaving the city for the Eid holidays.

An Indian journalist who met Nawab after he became a hit on YouTube quoted him as saying that he was initially upset about the prank. But Nawab said he changed his mind once he realised how popular the video had made him.

The brief clip of Nawazuddin Siddiqui playing Chand Nawab in Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s trailer hints at how much real life inspired the reel life.