I wonder what drives actors like Nawazuddin Siddique?

I guess it will be an unstoppable desire, an unshakable self belief and a zen like state of consciousness. 

Or else, how do you find that motivation to get going when the industry you work with doesn't reward you enough for your hard work? 

A look at the various award function of Bollywood (We are talking about Indian commercial cinema here) and it becomes clear that awards only recognizes or considers the films which are commercial success. It doesn't matter if someone has done a better role in a film which may not have filled up the coffers of the producers. 

Let us take the case of Nawazuddin Siddique or Kalki Koechlin for that matter. 

Nawaz portrayed three different characters in Bollywood cinema last year and in two of them he aged from 20s to 50s. Anybody who has watched his flawless renditions in 'Badlapur' and 'Mountain Man' would vouch for it. There could not have been a 'Badlapur' or 'Mountain Man' or 'Bajrangi Bhaijan' without him and yet he is beaten by Ranveer Singh for the best actor award in most award functions.

Thanks to Sony Guild Awards, they at least found him worthy of Best Supporting Actor for Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Best Actor in a Negative Role for Badlapur. 

As for last night's Filmfare Awards, he could just watch as Anil Kapoor walked away with the supporting actor and Ranveer hold the black lady as the best actor.

Kalki's case is worse. She was exceptional in ‘Margarita with a Straw’ and I wonder why an actor like her is not even nominated in best actors nomination. As someone who plays a girl with cerebral palsy, talking us through her struggles of life, Kalki had given the best performance of her life but yet it falls flat on the jury. 

Well for actors such as Nawaz and Kalki, probably, these awards doesn't matter. But recognition and acknowledgment fuel desire and ambition to achieve greater heights. These actors are trying to remove the stains of glitter and glamour from our eyes. They are trying to wear those layers and layers of human frailties to show us the picture of real world. They are the only hopes of a kind of cinema which talks about the ethos and pathos of the poor and burgeoning lower middle class. 

Their dreams gives hope to many other writers, actors and filmmakers to dream something bigger and so when they don't get what they deserve, it becomes one step back to mediocrity.

P.S. Ranveer Singh was good in Bajirao Mastani and as a film aficionado I am happy for him. He has come a long way and also to get this at this point where his girl friend Deepika Padukone also won the best actress award is special but he was not better than Nawaz. period.