Riz Ahmed was considered for ‘Udta Punjab’ lead role before Shahid Kapoor

British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed has become a big name in Tinseltown and it looks like before his hit career took off, he also had some Bollywood offers coming his way.

Indian 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.

Sharma revealed 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.