An unlikely MC: Nawazuddin Siddiqui to rap in 'Bole Chudiyan '

The movie is being directed by the actor's brother, Shamas Siddiqui

Tamannah Bhatia, left, has been roped in as the heroine alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui for 'Bole Chudiyaan'. Kumar Shyam / The National

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, star of Sacred Games, will somewhat surprisingly, sing a rap song in his coming film Bole Chudiyan, directed by his brother Shamas. The movie will be a love story, and while it hasn't started filming yet, Siddiqui's rap song Swaggy Chudiyan has already been recorded.

Siddiqui stars alongside actress Tamannaah Bhatia of Baahubali fame, who joined the project as a late replacement for Mouni Roy. This will be Siddiqui's first film as the romantic lead. He did act in Photograph alongside Sanya Malhotra, but that was really about two people pretending to be in a relationship rather than an actual love story.

Husband and wife producing team Rajesh and Kiran Bhatia of Woodpecker Movies spoke to The National from the sidelines of a promotional event for the film, and said it took some convincing to get Siddiqui to rap, but that it was worth the effort.

“Nawaz has a strong throw in his voice, and is known for that,” Rajesh Bhatia explained. “We collectively decided that he should sing … It took us time to cajole him, but he eventually consented, and [his rap] is blended beautifully in the song and is going to be the talk of the town when released.”

Director Shamas said his brother's rap is part of the narrative, it "is not just a promotional song," he told us. "The rap is written, keeping him in mind, as it has a rustic flavour of Rajasthan and it suits his voice well."

The Bhatias said they are sticking to their goal of making five full feature films in the next year, despite the setbacks on Bole Chudiyan after Roy pulled out.

"Our plan of making five movies by 2020 was thought out with taking into account time for some delays. Even the content and planning for each film has been made so that we finish shooting everything in one schedule. That is very important for us."

Initially there were six films but the number has been revised. The first of their five, Motichoor Chaknachoor is already in post production. Kiran is the creative head and the brain behind Woodpecker movies, and says their movies intend to do more than tell a story. "All our scripts have social messages but are not preachy, and they address the youth as well as the old."

The Bhatias are so confident that Woodpecker Movies will deliver all five films that they have announced a short synopsis for each and have scripts prepared. "The days of starting out by sounding out your actor just with an idea is gone. We have all the scripts locked in with dialogues. When an actor says yes [to us] he knows what he is signing on for. And work on all of our films can be done in parallel," Rajesh says.

Back to Bole Chudiyan, Nawazuddin and Tamannaah spoke about their excitement of working with each other during the press event, and legendary director Anurag Kashyap will be in front of the camera for the first time, in a cameo. Nawazuddin will reunite with his old friends ­Rajpal Yadav and Aditya ­Srivastava, and Kabir Duhan Singh will play the antagonist in the film.