Vir Das is a busy man. Even as his latest Netflix special, Losing It, went online, the actor has been announcing a flurry of projects. After completing the shoot of his first appearance on US television with the upcoming series Whiskey Cavalier, the actor has now announced another project. The actor will be playing the lead in his production titled Happy Patel.
The actor has already ventured into production alongside Nikhil Advani in the web-series Hasmukh, written by Das himself. He will take on a completely negative character for the first time in his career.
However, Happy Patel seems to be cast in a very different mould. The actor will be taking on the role of a spy, with his inspirations coming directly from films like the Austin Powers series, directed by Jay Roach.
Speaking of the film, Das said in a press release, “A spy film, with a pinch of comic touch is something very common in the west [Rush Hour (1998), Shanghai Nights (2003), Bad Boys (1995), Austin Powers (1997)] but not many films on these lines are made in India.”
The actor’s latest Netflix special, Losing It, has been receiving appreciation from audiences. The actor even shared a tweet of praise from one of the actresses of the hit American television comedy series, The Big Bang Theory, Mayim Bialik.
Speaking further on Happy Patel, Das contineud, “2018 has been an amazing year for content. People are now experimenting with great stories, new genres. Take for example, horror comedy didn’t exist for so long, then Stree came and it worked so well. Similarly, when I did Go Goa Gone (2013), zombies weren’t a thing, but the film worked. So yes, now with this current scenario, it’s the perfect time to head into this space and spy films and spy comedies are very exciting for me. Austin Powers is an iconic film and it gave me the base inspiration to work on something that’s inspired from it, but it’s a completely different story. We will begin production for Happy Patel in 2019. I’m currently wrapping up my international commitments and then we begin the pre-production for Happy Patel.”
The actor is also set to begin work on the sequel to the comedy, Go Goa Gone (2013), in 2019.