Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Udta Punjab’ role was initially supposed to go to Riz Ahmed

British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed is currently making waves in Hollywood but it seems his Bollywood prospects  don’t seem too gloomy either.

Bollywood screenwriter Sudip Sharma marked five years since the release of the film Udta Punjab and talked about the role of Tommy Singh, which was essayed by Shahid Kapoor.

He disclosed in a recent interview that before Kapoor was roped in, the makers had considered signing on Ahmed for the lead role instead.

“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?” he told Film Companion in an interview.

“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 said.

“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,” he added.