Actor Saif Ali Khan, who is in London shooting for his home production Jaawani Jaaneman, will be seen as an Indian diplomat in his next film.

According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Saif will be seen playing the role of JP Singh, India’s Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad, who was instrumental in bringing back a Delhi-based Indian girl named Uzma Ahmed from Pakistan at the behest of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

In 2017, Uzma met and fell in love with a Pakistani taxi driver named Tahir Ali in Malaysia. She later went to Pakistan’s Buner area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to meet him. To her horror, she discovered that he was already married and a father to four children. She was reportedly forced to marry him at gunpoint.

The report adds that the rights to the story have been bought by Sameer Dixit, Jatish Varma and Girish Johar. It will be directed by Shivam Nair, known for making Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu starrer Naam Shabana. The story is being adapted for the big screen by Ritesh Shah, known to have written John Abrahm’s Batla House and Shoojit Sircar, Pink, Mardaani and Vicky Kaushal’s Udham Singh biopic among others.

The report adds that when the story was narrated to Saif, he liked it and gave it a nod. Work on the film will commence in February-March next year and closer to the date, Saif will begin prepping for the role.