'Raman Raghav' was mentally draining: Nawazuddin

Mumbai: Known to push himself while playing different characters, Nawazuddin Siddiqui says his role in "Raman Raghav 2.0" was so demanding that he was reciting the movie's dialogues while being half-conscious in a hospital once. Raman Raghav, also known as Psycho Raman, was a psychopathic serial killer who terrorised the streets of Mumbai in the mid-1960s. Directed by Anurag Kashyap, the thriller stars Nawazuddin in the role of the notorious serial killer. "We shot the film for about 20 days. Once during shoot, I got unwell and was taken to a hospital. I was told later that even while I was almost half-unconscious in the hospital, I was repeating my dialogues from the film," Nawazuddin told PTI. The "Manjhi: The Mountain Man" star said he had never experienced something like this before when an on-screen character of his disturbed him so deeply. "My wife came and saw me like that and asked Anurag what was he making me do. Something like this, to this extent, never happened with me. This role was mentally draining for me." "Raman Raghav 2.0" marks the return of Kashyap and the 41-year-old actor who have worked together in "Black Friday" and the two-part crime saga "Gangs of Wasseypur". For the role of a serial killer, Nawazuddin had to understand the psyche of such people, who, as he says, "have a different mindset." "The first thing that I had to understand was that the character comes from a different world, he does not think like you and I. People like these, especially Raman Raghav have a different mindset, they follow their own logic of doing things. "It is not easy for us to even think of what he used to do so easily. I had to get under the skin of the character, understand him completely and then portray it convincingly on screen. It was really tough." "Raman Raghav 2.0", which also stars Vicky Kaushal will be showcased at Cannes' Directors Fortnight section. The festival will open on May 11.