I'm Not An Actor
(Main Actor Nahin Hoon)
Aditya Kripalani
Frankfurt-on-Main and Mumbai are not officially twinned but I’m Not an Actor connects the two cities cinematically. An actress in Mumbai and a newly retired banker (Hindi cinema star Nawazuddin Siddiqui!) of Indian descent in Frankfurt encounter each other during an online casting event. Their brief audition turns into a day together in motion: across streets, trains, shopping centres, bridges and along the river – they are always connected by video. While they go over their acting practice, they show their cities to each other and see them with different eyes. The two cities are introduced in parallel, reflected through each other’s eyes – as lived everyday spaces which give rise to closeness despite being separated by continents. Filming took place over the course of 28 days and involved real video calls and simultaneous shooting in both cities.
29 April 2026
20:45 h, Esplanade im Festivalzentrum
More information
| Direction | Aditya Kripalani |
| Country | Germany, India |
| Production year | 2025 |
| Duration | 121 min |
| Language | English, Hindi, German |
| Language Version | OV with German Subs |
| Production | Sweta Chhabria |
| Production company | Mumba Devi Motion Pictures |
| Cast | Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Chitrangada Satarupa |
| Director of Photography | Rishika Baruah (Frankfurt), Sumit Singh, Ajinkya Pandit (India) |
| Script | Aditya Kripalani |
| Montage | Hrishikesh Petwe |
| Sound | Nilesh Jatwa |
| Music | Aditi Ramesh, Amlan Ray, Rabbi Shergill |
| Sound Design | Nilesh Jatwa |
Presented by:
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
“Pigeonholing others gives us a false sense of security. It gives us the mistaken idea that we already understand the other person, when in fact it has the opposite effect: it builds up walls that we will later have to painstakingly overcome.
The story of I’m not an actor (Main Actor Nahin Hoon) is about exactly this kind of labelling: the “artist” vs. the “business type”. Making a film about an actress, who views herself as a purist and teaches a retired banker the nuances of acting via video calls and across borders, allows us to examine these deep-seated partitions in our minds.
This film looks at how our labels keep us from the insight that we are all equal on a deeper level – driven, pressured and challenged by the exact same things. As the artist and the banker talk to each other, they begin to recognize similarities in themselves and they realize that these labels are meaningless in the end.
At the same time, this film examines how people, who attended film school in countries like India, view European cinema. The images there are burnt into their mind and cause them, often unconsciously, to crave for exactly that kind of life. The puristic actress in this film is no exception. Ever since her time at film school she has secretly dreamed of this life: the cafes, the streets, the weather and the cold – as a counterpart to the constricting humidity of Mumbai, where she actually lives. While she gives acting lessons to the banker via video call and while they both take a walk through their respective cities her constant glances at the background of his video re-ignite her longing for this far-away life.”
I'm Not An Actor in the Media
Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Aditya Kripalani at Deadline.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui Wins best Actor at NYIFF- The Statesman
'I'm Not An Actor' at Variety.
'Mumba Devi Motion Pictures' at Variety
GERMAN PREMIERE
Q&A with the Producer
Regional Feature Film Program
