Following its spirited life on the festival circuit, Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist is heading towards its theatrical release. Heralding that, here's a new trailer, showcasing a cast headed by Riz Ahmed, Liev Schreiber, Keifer Sutherland, Kate Hudson and Om Puri.
Based on the bestselling, award-winning 2007 novel by Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the story of Changez (Ahmed, who also narrated the book for BBC Radio 4 in 2011), a prodigiously talented Pakhistani emigre to the US. Graduating from Princeton and carving a lucrative niche on Wall Street, his life is changed by growing understanding of American foreign policy, and by the September 11 attacks, which shift both his perception of America, and its perception of him.
It's a serious book and this looks to be a faithful, heavyweight adaptation. Empire**'s Damon Wise saw it in Venice, and called it "a well-realised modern parable about the way history creates its monsters". Its political stance means it has little to no chance of success in the US, where it's only slated for a limited release. Here in the UK we should have more chance to catch it, when it opens on April 19.
If you feel like preparing in the meantime, Hamid's novel is published in the UK by Penguin.
