Don’t you guys think Shahid Kapoor gave one of the best performances of his career in ‘Udta Punjab’?
On June 17, 2021, this black-comedy crime drama clocked 5 years of its release.
Co-starring Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Diljit Dosanjh, ‘Udta Punjab’ was directed by Abhishek Chaubey. While Shahid nailed it as Tommy Singh, did you guys know he wasn’t the FIRST CHOICE for this role? Reportedly, the team didn’t even think of a Bollywood actor for the part.
Recently, during a conversation with Film Companion, screenwriter Sudip Sharma revealed that the makers were toying with the idea of casting the Oscar-nominee Pakistan-British actor Riz Ahmed for Tommy’s role after watching his performance in ‘Nightcrawler’.
Talking about it, Sudip revealed, “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.”
He further went on saying, “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.“
Whoa! Now, that we bet you didn’t know.
Do you guys think Riz could have done a better job as ‘Tommy’ than Shahid? Let us know in the comment section below.