The team of 'Udta Punjab' initially considered this Academy award-nominated actor for the role of Tommy Singh after watching his film 'Nightcrawler'.
As the film 'Udta Punjab' completed five years, screenwriter Sudip Sharma revealed a secret about the film. He disclosed that the team initially wanted to cast Riz Ahmed for the role of Tommy Singh after watching his performance in 'Nightcrawler'. The team actually never considered casting a Bollywood actor though the role eventually went to Shahid Kapoor in the end.
In an interview with Film Companion, Sudip said, "We also dabbled with the idea of Riz Ahmed at one point of time. We never thought of a Bollywood actor for that role (Tommy Singh). We thought, why don’t we go for a British-South Asian character? Because we really wanted that whole London thing in it. And Riz is a great actor. And I remember walking out of Nightcrawler – he had a small-ish part in that film. He wasn’t that big a star, so we weren’t being that unrealistic and foolish about it. I remember calling Abhishek and saying, ‘Yaar, aap please picture dekho, he’s outstanding and he can really fit Tommy’s part.’ Wishes can be horses when you’re casting."
'Udta Punjab' was director Abhishek Chaubey's third film after 'Ishqiya' and 'Dedh Ishqiya'. The film also starred Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh. The film was about the drug menace in Punjab and Shahid played the role of a drug addict rockstar.
For the unversed, Riz Ahmed is a pakistani-British actor, he was born on December 1, 1982, in Wembley, London Borough of Brent. Riz was initially known for working in independent films like 'Shifty', 'The Road to Guantanamo', 'Four Lions', 'Trishna', 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist', 'Ill Manors', and many more. He also appeared in the British television series 'Britz' and 'Dead Set' in 2008. He got his first breakthrough role in the neo-noir thriller film 'Nightcrawler' that starred Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, and Bill Paxton.
Riz Ahmed made history by becoming the first Muslim actor who was nominated at 93rd Annual Academy Awards for Best Actor in Leading Role for his role of 'Ruben Stone' in the movie 'Sound of Metal'.
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