Even before director Piyush Gupta finished narrating the script of Tarla, Sharib Hashmi knew his answer. The actor was, in fact, scared that the debutant director might approach someone else if he took time to say yes. He laughs, “I fell on his feet and said, ‘Bhai, don’t look elsewhere.’”

In renowned home-chef and cookbook author Tarla Dalal’s biopic, led by Huma Qureshi, Hashmi plays the protagonist’s husband Nalin Dalal. Essaying a real-life personality comes with its challenges, but he says the ZEE5 film’s screenplay made his job easier. Couple that with his middle-class background, and the role fit him like a glove.

“I belong to a middle-class family, so I could relate to Nalin. I am also a family man. So, I put my personal experiences into playing him. If I weren’t a father in real life, I might not have understood Nalin as well,” he says.

The experience became richer thanks to his co-star Qureshi. Taken by her generosity as a co-actor, Hashmi says, “Huma is a fantastic actor. There were times when she went out of her way to accommodate me. If I wanted to do a scene a certain way, she would never say no. There were so many night shoots, but Huma never said, ‘This is Sharib’s close-up. I am not needed.’”

Their pairing may be unconventional by industry standards, but is receiving positive response from the audience. Thrilled to play the male lead, he says, “I have played a lead earlier too, in Filmistaan [2012]. But the day Tarla’s trailer dropped online, my best friend called and said, ‘Arey, tu toh hero ban gaya!’”