Nawazuddin Siddiqui is mourning the death of Valentin Teplyakov, one of his acting teachers. Siddiqui credited Teplyakov with teaching him the nuances of method acting while he was at the National School of Drama (NSD).
The actor shared a picture of Teplyakov on his official Instagram page and said, “I am deeply disheartened about the loss of my Acting Guru Valentin Teplyakov — the man who introduced me to method acting and its depth. An irreparable loss to me and to the world of art of acting [sic].”
Siddiqui had met the Russian acting teacher last in February this year. He had shared a picture with him on Instagram and said that performing in one of his plays was a turning point in his career. “The man who introduced me to method acting, Sir Valentin Teplyakov from Moscow. I acted in his play Ivanov (written by Anton Chekhov) in 1996, which changed me as an actor. Honoured to meet you after so long,” he wrote.
Siddiqui has appeared in three movies this year: Ghoomketu, Raat Akeli Hain and Serious Men. All three films released on OTT platforms as cinema halls were shut owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.