The actor plays a genius entrepreneur in Anil Sharma’s comeback film also featuring the director’s son in his acting debut
Shravan Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 3, 2018)

Mirror had earlier reported (October 11, 2017) that Nawazuddin Siddiqui had joined the ensemble cast of Gadar: Ek Prem Katha filmmaker Anil Sharma’s next, Genius. Now, we have learnt that the actor will be essaying the role of a businessman in the romance-thriller that also marks the acting debut of Sharma’s son, Utkarsh.

Sharma, who is back to direction after five years — his last film was the Sunny Deol-starrer Singh Saab The Great in 2013 — informed Mirror, “Nawaz plays MRS, a successful businessman who has come up the hard way. The story revolves around two geniuses, Nawaz and Utkarsh, both characters with grey shades.”

The filmmaker also reveals that he was keen to cast the 43-year-old actor even as he worked on the script. “I wanted somebody who could play the character brilliantly so I approached Nawaz. While shooting, he added nuances and portrayed the character with finesse. We had been in talks to cast Nawaz for a long time. After several telephonic conversations, we met and he liked the script,” Sharma revealed, adding that he and the actor met when the film was being shot in October 2017. “I had wrapped up the 30-day first schedule in Mathura and Vrindavan when we met. He came on board and we were shooting his portions by November-end, wrapping up the film in February after shooting with Nawaz in Mumbai, Indore, Maheshwar and Mauritius.”

When asked about his choice of script, the filmmaker said that he wanted to make something that was relevant to the recent times and that it took him two years to develop the script. “I wanted to make a film with young actors as I am now focused on films that are a bit different from the kind I have made before. This one is a complete entertainer,” Sharma says.