Siddharth says he turned down roles where he needed to ‘slap women, pinch navel’: I might've been a bigger star

Siddharth spoke about films and more at the recently held Hyderabad Literary Festival, and here's what he said about his career.

Actor Siddharth was one of the guests at the recently held Hyderabad Literary Festival, where he spoke about films, his love for books and more. Talking to his wife, actor Aditi Rao Hydari’s mother, Vidya Rao, at the event, he spoke about how he veered away from playing toxic men in his career. (Also Read: Siddharth clarifies whether he has a ‘problem’ with Allu Arjun after comparing Pushpa 2 crowd with JCB digging dirt)

Siddharth has acted in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films since his debut in 2003.

Siddharth on not playing ‘macho’ roles

Siddharth also interacted with the audience, answering questions about his career and take on life in general. Answering a question, he revealed that he would’ve been a ‘bigger movie star’ had he said yes to some projects.

He said, “I used to get scripts where I’m slapping women, doing item songs, pinching somebody’s navel, telling a woman what she should do, where she should go. And if those films had great scripts, they would’ve made great, successful films. I just rejected them. I might be a far bigger movie star today if I was differently wired. I instinctively did what I liked.”

Siddharth also stated that it’s gratifying when people come up to him as someone who is ‘cute’ but ‘respectful to women’ too. He said, “Today, people tell me you were respectful to women, you were good to parents, you were good with kids, you looked cute. And their kids watch my films from 15 years ago. It’s such a gratifying feeling; it’s not something that can be measured in crores. Everyone around me was trying to be aggressive and macho. They’re all mard ko dard nahi hota (men don’t feel pain) kind of thing, and I was happy to cry on screen.”

Recent work

At the beginning of his career, Siddharth gained fame for his roles in films like Boys, Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, and Rang De Basanti. He recently produced the 2023 film Chithha which dealt with child abuse. Last seen in Indian 2 and Miss You in 2024, Siddharth will soon star in Indian 3 and Test.