The Incredible Story Of Mumbai Watchman Savi Siddhu’s Tryst With The Movies

Fifty-two-year-old Savi Siddhu is a watchman at a housing society in Mumbai's Malad area. If you look at him closely, he may look familiar to you. Siddhu's been in three films directed by Anurag Kashyap – the unreleased Paanch, Black Friday and Gulaal. He's also had parts in Patiala House and Yash Raj Film's Bewakoofiyaan. 

This week, on our show Filmy Connection, which features people who are impacted by the movies, we told the story of Savi. After managing to build a steady career as an actor, he had to give it all up to attend to his health issues. Over the years, more tragedies struck. Savi lost his wife and parents in succession. "Slowly I became all alone," he says. 

In the last 48 hours, things have started looking up for Savi. Thanks to the great forces of the Internet, his story travelled, and now he has auditions lined up for ads and short films. Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani has called him in for an audition. The offices of Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar have reached out. "The call that really touched me the most was from Mika Singh. He found my number from Twitter. He made so much of an effort to call me," says Savi. Other film talents like Rajkummar Rao also pledged to help him. 

Savi is overwhelmed with how quickly the film industry reached out to help him. Owing to his financial problems, it's been a while since he could go for auditions or even watch a film. He's now received a call from Sushant Singh, General Secretary of CINTAA (Cine and TV Artists Association), offering him financial help.

When we met Savi a month ago, he was hopeful that he'd soon be able to rebuild his acting career. Looking back, his words now sound prophetic. "Thoda bank balance banake phirse producers or directors ko miloonga. I'm hopeful. I've got a positive response in the past. Maybe they're waiting for me," he had said.