New Delhi: Indian actor and film producer Fahadh Faasil rejected the chance to work with Tom Cruise in the upcoming film Digger. The proposed role eventually went to Riz Ahmed. The British actor recently shared that he is unfamiliar with Faasil’s films but plans to watch them now.
“I know that there’s such an incredible industry in South India with so many stars. I always want to kind of watch more movies from India and see what’s going on there,” he told The Hollywood Reporter India.
Directed by Alejandro G Iñárritu, the dark comedy stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, an oil mafia boss whose company has triggered an ecological disaster with the potential to start a nuclear war. Ahmed plays Dr Ganesh, a scientist and key adviser to Rockwell. Interestingly, the character’s family roots are from Kerala, and he focuses strongly on ocean and environmental protection in the film.
When Ahmed was asked about the comparison between him and Faasil, he said that he found it interesting. He chose Kerala as the character’s place of origin because of the name Ganesh, and wanted to establish a connection with the sea and its heritage, as the character is deeply interested in it.
“I chose Kerala (as the place of origin) because of the surname Ganesh and how that’s more common in South Indian immigrants as well, and how that can often get assigned as a family name in communities,” he said.
Faasil had previously revealed that the director was unconvinced by his accent during the audition. He was also asked to stay in the United States for three to four months without pay, which ultimately did not work out for him.
“To perfect the accent, I was told to go to the US and stay three or four months. But they weren’t ready to pay for that. That’s why I skipped it. Otherwise, I would have gone running. Also, to bother so much for an accent, I didn’t feel that kind of fire for it,” he said during a conversation with Cue Studio earlier this year.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)