Produced by Danish Renzu & Tara Tucker, the filmmakers have released the teaser trailer of The Illegal featuring Suraj Sharma in the titular role.
The film follows an optimistic young man (Suraj Sharma) from middle-class India who goes to Los Angeles to be a film school student. But he is forced to drop out to support his family, then loses his student visa and is stuck working at an Indian restaurant – unable to get a better-paying job as an undocumented worker in the United States, and unable to save enough money to go home.
The teaser doesn’t give away much, except for the featuring cast and a melancholic soundtrack reflecting lost dreams. Watch the teaser here.
Suraj Sharma made his debut in the Academy Award-winning film, Life of Pi by Ang Lee. He has since been seen in Umrika, Phillauri, The Hungry, Million Dollar Arm, Burn Your Maps, Homeland and can be seen currently on the wonderful American TV series called God Friended Me.
The Illegal also features an ensemble cast including Iqbal Theba, Jay Ali, Adil Hussain, Danny Vasquez, Shweta Tripathi, Neelima Azeem, Jully Lee, and Hannah Masi.
This is the second independent feature film written and directed by Danish Renzu, who made his debut with Half Widow, which is currently playing in theatres through Vkaao by PVR Cinemas and streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
The Illegal started it’s film festival cycle in the fall of 2019 and has since won the Jury Special Prize in the Discovering India section at Mumbai Film Festival 2019 and been a nominee for Best Narrative Feature at the Austin Film Festival 2019. It will be seen next at the 2020 Seattle Asian American Film Festival on 22 February 2020. We wish them luck!