Nawazuddin Siddiqui to play Delhi street detective in Kabootar

Indian actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui is set to star in Kabootar, the debut feature film of writer-director Ishan Sharma, with principal photography scheduled to begin in Delhi in early 2027.

Produced by Nikhil Chaudhary of MDC Filmworks, the film is an India-France-Norway co-production involving MDC Filmworks in India, Haiku Films in France and Rein Film in Norway. Rohit Saxena will serve as co-producer on the Indian side.

Set against the ageing architecture of Old Delhi, Kabootar follows Mehboob, a street detective who secretly reads letters addressed to a Djinn in search of potential clients. His life intersects with Naoko, a Japanese tourist carrying a painful past, and Ruby, a young child searching for his parents.

Chaudhary praised Siddiqui’s versatility and familiarity with Delhi, describing the film as a love letter to the city.

“Nawaz is an actor of extraordinary range. He can be dangerous in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and heartbreakingly gentle in ‘The Lunchbox,’” Chaudhary said. He added that Siddiqui’s international profile and understanding of Delhi made him a strong fit for the India-France-Norway production.

Sharma said Siddiqui had influenced a generation of young writers and directors, including himself, through performances in films such as Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa and The Lunchbox.

"Kabootar asks something of him that audiences haven’t seen before. To have him take that leap with us is a gift. I can’t wait to build this world with him,” Sharma said.

Siddiqui is known for his performances in Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox and Nandita Das’s Manto, all of which premiered at Cannes. He also starred in Netflix’s crime thriller series Sacred Games and received an International Emmy nomination for his lead role in the Netflix film Serious Men.

Casting director Dilip Shankar, whose credits include Life of Pi and Monsoon Wedding, said Siddiqui would bring the character’s humour, emotional depth and vulnerability to the screen.

Shankar described Mehboob as a character requiring a combination of mischief, anger, tenderness and grace, adding that Siddiqui’s performance would anchor the film in the atmosphere of Old Delhi.

Kabootar has been selected for several international film market showcases, including the Tasveer Film Market in Seattle and Film Bazaar in Goa, organised by India’s National Film Development Corporation. The project is also included in the NFDC lineup at this year’s European Film Market in Berlin.

Later this month, Chaudhary is scheduled to pitch the film through the APN+ Track of the Asian Producers Network in Singapore.

Sharma, a graduate of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, previously directed the short films The God of Panic Street (2019) and A Season of Mangoes (2022). Both screened at international festivals and received awards, including the Cinema Experimenta Award.

MDC Filmworks has produced five films, including Sanjoy Nag’s Yours Truly, which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival, and Rajat Kapoor’s dark comedy Kadakh, which premiered at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and won the best screenplay award.

Haiku Films, founded by Thomas Jaeger, Antoine Delahousse and Claire Trinquet, produced Fi, which won the Grand Prize at San Sebastián in 2022, and co-produced Treasure, which screened at the Berlinale in 2024.

Norwegian production company Rein Film, founded by Mathis Ståle Mathisen and Aleksander Olai Korsnes, is known for My Fathers’ Daughter, which screened at Toronto in 2024.

The key crew for Kabootar includes cinematographer Udit Khurana, sound designer Sethu Venugopal and casting director Shankar. The project was curated by CineV, a platform founded by Nina Lath Gupta that connects film projects with financiers and investors.