Kumail Nanjiani to play the role of Chippendales founder in Hulu’s series Immigrant

By Murtuza Iqbal

Actor Kumail Nanjiani, known for his performance in Silicon Valley, Portlandia, and others, is now all set to feature in a Hulu series titled Immigrant. The actor will portray the character of Somen ‘Steve’ Banerjee, an Indian-American entrepreneur who started Chippendales.

The limited series will detail the insane, darkly comedic, crime-ridden story behind the unique male revue that became a cultural phenomenon.

According to Variety, the series is written by Robert Siegel and executive produced by Siegel, Nanjiani, Limelight's Dylan Sellers, and Chris Parker. Emily V Gordon as well as Rajiv Joseph and Mehar Sethi will also write on the series. Immigrant will be an eight-episode series and it will be produced by Twentieth Television.

Emily V. Gordon is Kumail’s wife and they had previously worked together in the 2017 rom-com The Big Sick which was loosely based on their real-life romance. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for best original screenplay.

In 2017, a film based on the life of Banerjee was announced. Dev Patel was supposed to play the lead role in it, and Craig Gillespie of I, Tonya fame was going to direct. It has been in the works for two decades by Permut Productions' David Permut.

Talking about Kumail’s other projects, the actor will be seen in the movie Eternals and also has a series titled Obi-Wan Kenobi lined up.