22 July,2011 08:10 AM IST | | Subhash K Jha
Mira Nair ropes in Pakistani-British actor Rizwan Ahmed for her next, sources claim she's no longer pursuing the Kapoor boy
Mira Nair is not 'chasing' Bollywood hottie Ranbir Kapoor for her next, at least not anymore.
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The filmmaker has already found the perfect actor to play the 20-something role of Changez in her screen adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's Booker-nominated novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Nair confirms, "We cast our lead in Reluctant Fundamentalist long ago and it is Rizwan Ahmed. No question of anyone else." A source further informs, "Ranbir is certainly not in the reckoning. Mira stopped looking for her lead six months ago right after her audition with the Pakistani-British actor."
Rizwan, whose family moved to Karachi from UP after the Partition, has been much applauded for his performances on television and in feature films like The Road To Guantanamo and Shifty. Nair thinks he is perfect to play the lead in this cross-cultural Pakistani-American romance.
Surprisingly, the filmmaker has been finding it difficult to convince Bollywood's A-list actors to work with her.
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For The Namesake, she had pursued Abhishek Bachchan for months before throwing in the towel and opting for Kal Penn. Buzz is that Ranbir, too, was not interested in this role, which is why she had to settle for Rizwan.
No interest
However, our source rubbishes this claim: "It is not true that Ranbir was not interested in the role. Which Bollywood actor would not want to work with the director of Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake?"
The problem apparently was shooting in Pakistan (the film's location has now been shifted to Delhi) and growing a beard.
"Ranbir didn't want to grow a real beard to play the young, modern Muslim man. It would have caused continuity problems in his other films under production, not to mention severe itching problems," says the source.
Apparently, Rizwan had no objection to either shooting in Lahore (the story unfolds at a caf ufffd in the Pakistani metro) or to growing a beard for the role.
