I Want to Do More Bollywood Films: Suraj Sharma

Suraj Sharma talks about wanting to work in more Hindi films and stereotyping of South Asian actors.

(Photo: Instagram)

Danish Renzu's The Illegal is all set to drop on Amazon Prime Video on 24 March. The film stars Suraj Sharma, earlier seen in Life of Pi, as Hassan who goes to Los Angeles to study a filmmaking course and ends up working in a restaurant to make ends meet.

Sharma speaks to The Quint about how various people he met during his stay in New York helped inspire the character of Hassan. "There's someone I have known for years, and every time I would talk to him he spoke so fondly about his family. To me, it seemed like he had them around, until one day he told me how he can't go back home because he won't be able to return."

Sharma says people like him and many other he met helped him get into Hassan's skin. Danish Renzu, who is also an immigrant in the US, shared his experiences with Suraj, which aided in understanding Hassan better.

The actor also spoke about stereotyping of South Asians and why he's only done one Bollywood film so far. Watch the video to find out more.

Video Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan