Delhi-actor in Pooja Bhatt's film on shoe-throwing Iraq scribe

"I will play the role of Munthadir al-Zaidi in the film produced by Pooja Bhatt. The movie will be made in Arabic and English with English subtitles. I will play the lead in Indian version and it will be shot entirely in Lebanon," Imran Zahid told PTI in an interview.
Zahid, who portrayed the role of Munthadir al-Zaidi, a journalist from Iraq who shot into international fame for throwing his shoes at former US President George Bush during a press conference in 2008 had recently played the lead in the play "The Last Salute" also based on Zaidi's book of the same name.

Mahesh Bhatt is collaborating with Munthadir al-Zaidi for the screenplay for the film which is set to be directed by a director from the Middle-East.

Zahid says he landed his debut Bollywood role in Bhatt's upcoming "Chandu" after a chance meeting with the ace director Mahesh Bhatt in Dubai.

The film is based on the real-life film on Chandrashekhar, a student leader of Jawaharlal Nehru University who was killed during election campaigns in Siwan, Bihar.

"My first movie is a biopic of Chandrshekhar who was a great student leader and rose against injustice. My second movie is based on Munthadir al-Zaidi who spoke against the injustice done in his country. I relate to both these persons as they had anger against injustice, I can relate to that anger," says Zahid.

"We wanted to go Iraq and shoot a documentary there on Zaidi but the Iraqi government denied us a visa," says Zahid.

All seriousness aside, Zahid says he is just a regular guy who likes to hang out with friends and enjoys going to the movies. "I have been portrayed as a very serious person by the media, which is not the case. I am a fun loving guy."

The actor doesn't want to be typecast in the "angry young man" role. "I don't want to be typecast in any genre. People think that I only do serious stuff, but am open to all kinds of roles as long as they satisfy my creative need," he says.

"Whether you belong to a small town or big, it doesn't matter, what matters is the size of your dream," says Zahid for whom the journey from small city Bokaro in Jharkhand to Delhi University and now to Bollywood has been like a roller coaster.

"I always wanted to work on my own terms. After graduating I opened my own media school because I didn't want to do a job. Now Bhatt sahib offered me the film and I liked it, so am doing it. I respect him a lot, he has taught me to always be grounded.