By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS): National Award-winning actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has worked with several talented female filmmakers in his career. Nandita Das called the shots in "Firaaq" and "Manto", Reema Kagti directed "Talaash" and, recently, Tannishtha Chatterjee wielded the megaphone in the upcoming "Roam Rome Mein". Siddiqui says as an actor he does not differentiate between talents based on gender.

"When I work with a filmmaker, I am not concerned about the gender of the storyteller. For me, whether it is Nandita or Tannishtha, they are talented storytellers. They came to me with a vision and I am participating in telling their stories on screen. For me, what matters the most is creativity, and I have to be on the same wavelength with the director. Talent should not be celebrated on the basis of gender. So, when Tannishtha was directing me, not for a single moment did I feel that a woman was giving direction. For me, it was a talented human being I was collaborating with," Nawazuddin told IANS.

Tannishtha's "Roam Rome Mein" has been in then news lately for the response that the film has been eliciting in the festival circuit. Apart from its India premiere at the Jio MAMI 21st Mumbai Film Festival, the film has travelled to Busan International Film Festival and Rome Film Festival.

Set in Rome, the film features Vineet Kumar, Isha Talwar and Italian actors Urbano Barberini and Pamela Villoresi along with Nawazuddin and Tannishtha.

Nawazuddin says he is happy with the positive response the film received from global audiences, but it is special to be back home.

"There are a few sequences in the film where the humour is very 'desi', which one cannot really translate into another language. Here in Mumbai, people are laughing during those scenes and enjoying. We are so happy to see such a response. I am a strong believer in the fact that art has no language but at the end of the day, nothing like sharing our film with our audience," added the actor.