British diplomat to play Sherlock in Hindi film

Career diplomat and British Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata, Simon Wilson now has a new role to play- as a detective. However, this is not in real life but in reel.

Wilson, who has previously dabbled in amateur theatre is excited about donning the long coat and hat of fictional super sleuth Sherlock Holmes.

The diplomat plays the cameo in the Kolkata-sourced Hindi movie The Diamond Murders directed by Ashoke Viswanathan. “I have done some amateur theatre in my life and this cameo role seems quite charming,” Wilson said.

Inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four, the film is set against the colonial background of Shillong, with its heritage buildings and European ambience getting transformed into a British countryside in the murder mystery.

“The film is a murder mystery that explores the Indian psyche to show how women’s mind work. A lady travels through time and constructs a narrative as she creates characters borrowed from fiction like Gulliver’s Travels and Treasure Island before she gets kidnapped. The protagonist, Prasant Sehgal, solves the mystery,” says Viswanathan.

“Ashok Vishwanthan is a friend and when he offered me the role which was being shot in Meghalaya, I happily accepted it,” says Wilson.