EXCLUSIVE! Shivam Nair on John Abraham starrer The Diplomat: ‘Irrfan Khan was my first choice, spoken to Saif Ali Khan, but…’

Directed by Shivam Nair, The Diplomat featuring John Abraham as JP Singh and Sadia Khateeb as Uzma Ahmed is an engaging real-life story which will give you shivers down your spine.

Shivam Nair spoke to Firstpost on his experience of meeting Uzma Ahmad on whom the film is based, how traumatized she was as she narrated her escape from Pakistan, his experience of meeting JP Singh and more.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Tell us on John Abraham playing the role of diplomat JP Singh …was he there in your mind from the very beginning? And for a change, he’s doing something different here.

 I had spoken to Irrfan Khan for this when the story came to me. When I called him, he told me he’s not well. I never knew what the issue was but he told me about it, I told him I’d meet him in a week. When I came to know about his illness, I went to Saif Ali Khan. But Saif is from a different school of thought and said he will think about it. Then COVID happened and things stopped for some time. Then my other producer partner gave the script to John Abraham. He read it. When I met him and we were talking about the story and geopolitics of our country, I realized that John can do it. He understood the role, but he wasn’t my first choice. John did a great job.

Did you meet Uzma and how did the idea of The Diplomat come to you?

She had just come back from Pakistan. It was just a month and as she narrated the story, she was in a lot of pain. The producer of the film then got the rights to make her story into a movie. They then called her in Mumbai and I met her. She narrated the whole story to me, but she was in a lot of trauma.

She told me that she was fooled by the Pakistani boy. She went to Malaysia for a job. She met Tahir from Pakistan who was a taxi driver there. And, he proposed to her and she went to Pakistan, she didn’t realise it was a trap. She then told me how she planned and landed up in the embassy, so that she could go back to India.

I thought her story was good, but still there were a few gaps. Then I told the producer to call the diplomat who rescued this girl from Pakistan.

Then after a week or so, they called diplomat JP Singh, who was at that time serving in Islamabad, and they called JP Singh here to Bombay. He came to Bombay and he narrated his version when she came into the embassy. When I got both the sides of the story, then the actual script writing process started.

When you met JP Singh what was your first impression about him?

He is from Haryana. I met him two to three times while writing the script. He was earlier in Islamabad and then in Afghanistan. He served in some other countries too. And he’s very smart and the best thing I like about him is his flexibility, he can talk to everybody; starting from a person he has just met on the streets to high ranking bureaucrats. He is very sharp and since he has served in mostly Muslim countries, his survival instincts are very high and he knows how to navigate through things. John is very good with geopolitical stories. And, that’s why he just got into the character of JP Singh very easily.

You met JP Singh and Uzma. How much has Uzma changed after that incident?

Uzma Ahmad is a changed person now. She has become confident and she has moved on in life.

What was the thought that went behind choosing Revathi as Sushma Swaraj?

From the first day the script came to me, I was willing to take the Revathi as Sushma Swaraj, but we thought we would complete the script and get in touch with her. When we pitched the story to her and she immediately agreed.

How much of cinematic liberty was taken?

Very few. Only in the last action scene, we made it a little elaborate where the chase happens.

WATCH the trailer of The Diplomat movie here: