Utkarsh Sharma, who played the role of Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel's onscreen son Jeetey in 2001 film Gadar, is all set for his full-fledged Bollywood debut. The teaser of his debut film Genius hit the Internet and it swiftly gained the top spot on the trends list.
Genius is directed by Utkarsh's father Anil Sharma, who directed Sunny Deol in films such as Gadar, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, Apne (also featuring Sunny's brother Bobby Deol and father Dharmendra) and Singh Saab the Great. Genius introduces Utkarsh, as an archetypal Bollywood hero, who romances the heroine and fights the goons (a la Sunny Deol style) - so, nothing new here.
It's how the teaser is presented, which will make you ROFL. The one-and-a-half minute clip has scenes of Utkarsh's new film juxtaposed with his scenes in Gadar. Genius is pegged as "Jeetey's return."
Watch the teaser of Genius:
'Genius' marketing, isn't it?
Of directing his son, Anil Sharma told IANS that he treated Utkarsh like any other cast member on the sets. Anil Sharma also discussed about his son's potential and possible future in Bollywood.
"Since his first film as a child actor, I realised that he has a special talent. Then he did a film production course in the US. I think in this film, he has done a fantastic job with his realistic performance, but now things are in the audience's hands - whether they will accept him or not as an actor, as I think the image of an actor is largely created by the audience."
“As an actor, you just have to make sure that you have to put your best possible effort in every aspect — be it dancing, action, drama and living the character which you are playing. In this field, fathers cannot shape careers of their child if that has been the case then there would have been so many successful actors from film families”.
Utkarsh is debuting opposite Ishitha Chauhan, who has featured in films like Aap Kaa Surroor, Asha Black and Highjack, which released earlier this year. The film also stars Ayesha Jhulka and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who called Utkarsh "dynamic talent" in a tweet earlier this year.
On working with Nawazuddin, Anil said: “Everyone knows that Nawaz is a natural and wonderful actor. I remember when I narrated this film’s script to him, he agreed to play the part because he liked the script, and at the same time, he told me that Utkarsh is a natural actor.
“It was easy working with Nawaz as I feel that he acts in a natural flow and such an actor is a boon for the filmmaker. On the other hand, actors who try hard to act are difficult to work with.”
“Genius” is slated to release on August 24.