Nawazuddin Siddiqui faces divorce: Tracing actor's controversial story from 'country boy' to 'toxic male'

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been heralded as one of Bollywood's best actors. No matter how incredible an actor he happens to be, his life outside films has been the centre of a debate. With accusations during the #MeToo movement, there's just so much where toxic masculinity is considered, which hasn't been unpacked.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui's wife has now filed for a divorce from the acclaimed actor after many years of marriage. The point for divorce is being debated for the allegations cited. When it comes to love Nawazuddin Siddiqui's story has always been a cause for some debate.

A timeline of Nawazuddin's controversial relationships

On his birthday, Bollywood actor Nawazuddin is standing on the cusp of a divorce. His wife Aaliya who has been married for 11 years has called it quits. Aaliya in a conversation with Indian Express, said that for the past 10 years their marriage was on the rocks and she had utilised the lockdown period to come to a decision. 

Nawazuddin Siddiqui who is in his hometown Budhana in UP, was sent the notice over WhatsApp and hasn't responded to it yet. She has also stated that she wants sole custody of their kids. She said, "Self-respect is extremely important in a marriage. Woh meri khatam ho chuki thi (that didn't exist for me), I didn't have that. I was made to feel like a nobody. I always felt alone. His brother Shamas was also an issue. I have gone back to my original name, Anjana Kishor Pandey. I don't want to be reminded that I am using someone's identity for my benefit." 

But, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has often been the centre of controversy when it comes to his past relationships. The actor was also accused by many for fabricating lies in his book about women in particular:

1. Anjali 

Anjana Kishor Pandey also known as Anjali, became Aaliya on marriage to Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The two shared a strained relationship, often fighting, and he would go to her to bring her back. In his memoir, the actor had mentioned that they'd broken up at one point. 

2. First marriage

Nawazuddin, when broken up with Anjali, married a girl Sheeba of his mother's choosing. They were married for a while and seemed to be doing fine but because of her intrusive brother, the marriage suffered followed by a divorce. The divorce took an ugly turn when her family blamed him of torturing her. This hurt him he wrote in the memoir. 

3. Return of Anjali and second marriage

After his marriage to Sheeba had failed, Anjali had made a reentry into his life and things seemed to be going well for the two. Both of them got married eventually, and Anjali was asked to change her name according to his memoir, he suggested Zainab but she became Aaliya instead. 

4. Rumours about Sunita Rajwar

In 2017, things took a dark turn when there were many rumours that made the rounds that Nawazuddin Siddiqui was involved with Sunita Rajwar who had also been enrolled at NSD. In his memoir, the actor spoke about how she had left him. Following the memoir, Rajwar had sent a legal notice to Nawazuddin saying that he was tarnishing her image, demanding a compensation of Rs 2 crores. She called his book, 'An Ordinary Life of Extraordinary Lies'.

5. Accusations of spying on his wife

The Call Data Records Racket was well known, as the actor and his wife Aaliya were called by the police regarding their Data Records. Private detectives were paying police personnel for data records of certain people for clients. The Police had revealed that the actor had been trying to follow his wife's call records through the channel. Nawazuddin had denied the allegation. 

6. Affair with Niharika Singh

Nawazuddin's affair with former Miss India Niharika Singh, became the talk of the town. So much so that she had called him a 'sexually repressed man'. At the time of #MeToo she had revealed how he would try to engage her sexually as well and called him an example of toxic male entitlement. Read more about it here.

Let's not speculate, Nawazuddin had said, "How was I to know that 5 pages of the book would kill the impact of my entire effort? The book had 209 pages. Only 5 of those pages were written about over and over again." He had also said that everything he wrote in the book was true. However, the trajectory is startling. Often we're willing to oversee some major failings of a talent. There may truth and lies in equal measure, we're yet to know what will come of this as it unfolds. However, history rarely forgets. Who deserves the benefit of the doubt? That's left for an individual to decide.