Siddharth On Turning Down Roles That Objectified Women: "I Rejected Them Outright"

Actor Siddharth, who has primarily worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films, has turned down roles that glorified toxic masculinity.

The actor recently shared his thoughts at the Hyderabad Literary Festival.

In a candid interaction with singer-writer Vidya Rao, he said, “I used to get scripts where I am slapping women, doing item songs, pinching somebody's navel, telling a woman what she should do, where she should go, etc… I rejected them outright.”

Vidya Rao, is an Indian Hindustani classical singer and writer, and the mother of Siddharth's wife, actress Aditi Rao Hydari.

Siddharth added, “Of course, I might be a far bigger movie star today if I was differently wired. I instinctively did what I liked. Today, people tell me I was respectful to women, I was good to parents, I was good with kids, and I looked cute. Their kids can watch my films from 15 years ago. It is such a gratifying feeling.”

Siddharth revealed that while his contemporaries portrayed aggressive and macho characters, he had zero inhibitions of being vulnerable on screen.

The actor said, “This feeling is not something that can be measured in crores. Everyone around me was trying to be aggressive and macho. When many were all ‘mard ko dard nahi hota' (men don't feel pain) kind of thing, and I was happy to cry on screen.”

Siddharth is credited with films like Boys, Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, Maha Samudram, Chikkadu Dorakadu, and Rang De Basanti.

Siddharth donned the role of a producer with the 2023 crime drama Chithha.

The movie revolved around child abuse. Directed by SU Arun Kumar, Chithha also featured Sahasra Sree, S Aafiyah Tasneem, Nimisha Sajayan, Natturaja Durai, and Baalaji SU.

Up next, Siddharth has Indian 3, led by Kamal Haasan, the action thriller is the sequel to Indian 2.

Siddharth is also a part of the S Sashikanth directorial The Test.