Speaking to media for the first time since he left his rain-wrecked home in Chennai 6 days ago to begin relief work, the Rang De Basanti star gave a lesson in humility.
Siddharth – who many know from his superstardom in Tamil and Telugu cinema, and others will recognise from Bollywood's Rang De Basanti – hadn't been home for six days. While back in Chennai, his house, three studios, an office, three cars, and countless possessions lay submerged, the actor traveled around Tamil Nadu, rallying volunteers and organising relief efforts.
For the six days after he left his home, Siddharth spoke to no press. His public communications took place on Twitter, where he offered help and he asked for it, with no media middleman. Yesterday, the actor broke his press silence when he met an NDTV reporter for a brief interview in Cuddalore.
He doesn't want any of us to talk about him right now. But he's making that really difficult.
"I didn't speak to any of the national channels for one principle reason: because there is no need to politicize this situation at all," he said.
Throughout the 11-minute interview, NDTV's reporter pressed Siddharth for personal anecdotes and, each time, the actor steered the conversation back to relief work.
NDTV
When asked about the night his home was destroyed, he responded, "that's a bit dramatic" and said he'd rather discuss "the ground realities". He went on to describe scenes from the 15 small villages he had visited for rehabilitation work in the prior 24 hours.
When asked about his personal decision to take on relief work, he said: "Maybe I just got freaked out that I lost my house for the first time in my entire life." Almost immediately, he steered again, saying, "I don't think that's a very pertinent situation for me to analyze right now." He shifted his focus to the boons and dangers of Twitter-powered relief work.
He's genuinely uninterested in talking about himself. He'd rather use his screen-time to create more awareness, to spread more best practices, to battle misinformation. He's too focussed on improving other's lives to fixate on the particulars of his own.