Irrfan and Nawazuddin - The perfect rivals?

The cast of The Lunchbox has won many accolades the world around for its impressive performance but strangely one of its lead actors, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, has remained conspicuous by his absence from almost all of the film's promotional activities.

Nawaz's no-show has set tongues tattling and insiders say it could have something to do with the alleged acrimony between Nawaz and his co-star Irrfan Khan. The rest of the cast was in Delhi recently to promote the film and as expected Nawaz once again was nowhere to be seen. Says an insider, "Some say Irrfan and Nawaz are not comfortable around each other."

Certain crewmembers from the film say that the two actors remained just about cordial with each other during the shoot but maintained their distance. A Bollywood birdie reminds us how during their struggling years, Nawaz and his close friend, Irrfan stayed together in a one-room apartment to see each other through the hard days. But once Irrfan rose to prominence, he and Nawaz drifted apart. During a recent interview Irrfan had commented how he and Nawaz hardly had any scenes together in the film, limiting their interactions on the sets. But the film, that is set to release soon, actually has ample scenes between the two actors.

However, those close to the actors vehemently deny any trouble in their friendship. Director Ritesh Batra states, "They admire each other's work and have a splendid chemistry that you can see in the film." Another industry source claims, "Irrfan is also a producer. If he had differences with Nawaz, he would not have taken him in the film. Rumours about their differences are just publicity gimmicks. " On his part, Nawaz says, "Irrfan is 10 years senior to me and all these rumours are upsetting. We don't have any differences."u00a0