Serious Men sees Nawazuddin Siddiqui play the character of Ayyan Mani, a Dalit man who passes off his son as a genius. The actor said that his life experiences made him play the character with such intensity. "Your experience speaks a lot when you are performing. Whenever you are playing a character, you have to relate to it in some way. I come from a very small village and eventually moved to a big city. So, the life experiences I had in between is something I often go back to while playing a character," said Nawazuddin.