Regina Cassandra: Nawazuddin Siddiqui is like a class apart actor

ABU DHABI: Regina Cassandra will be seen sharing screen space with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, whom she described as a “class apart actor”, in the crime thriller “Section 108”. The actress revealed how the acclaimed actor helped her in improving her Hindi speaking skills.

Regina, who has worked in films such as “Mughiz”, “Conjuring Kannappan” and “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga” among many others, told IANS: “Nawazuddin Siddiqui is obviously like a class apart actor and I've had the privilege to work with him. Very humble human being, very down-to-earth, very centered."

She spoke about how she doesn’t speak Hindi as often and turned to Nawazuddin for help during the shoot of “Section 108”, directed by Rasikh Khan.

“If I must say and in fact since I come from the south, I don't speak Hindi as often as I would like to and I don't practice it as often. Although I know the language, I can read and write,” she added.

The actress recalled: “So, when we were doing our scenes one day, I looked at him and I said, ‘sir, can we please rehearse the scene a couple of times because my Hindi has to get better?’ So, he looked at me and he said, ‘don't worry, my English is not that good so we'll have to practice these scenes more and more’.”

She said that the two have something to work on.

“And that it's really nice for an actor to be able to joke about themselves or be real for that matter. You don't get to see that very often and I think that's a really nice quality.”

Ever since her debut in 2005 with “Kanda Naal Mudhal”, Regina has worked in a myriad genres in Telugu and Tamil films. It was in 2019, when the 33-year-old actress made her Hindi film debut with Sonam Kapoor-starrer “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga.”

Talking about working in various languages, she said: “The beauty of working in different languages, just the fact that you know, emotion has no particular language but just the fact that you have to learn to express it in a different way, I find that very beautiful.”

Regina feels privileged to get the work that she has been getting.

“If I must say, to have been able to work in every industry and I'm happy that as an actor, I'm versatile enough to be able to pull it off and I think I love all the industries.”

The actress will be present at the 24th edition of International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA), where she will be performing on a nine-minute medley.

Apart from performing, the actress has other plans too.

“Abu Dhabi and Dubai are known for their shopping experiences and I will definitely fall prey to it but I'm not much of a shopper but I'm sure I like it. I will walk around and do my window shopping at least. I will definitely shop but yeah.”