US-based Indian filmmaker Mira Nair says she decided to make "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" after her Pakistan visit.

Set around the post-9/11 period, the contemporary film about Pakistan is centred on a young Pakistani guy chasing corporate success on the Wall Street and struggling between his American dream, a hostage crisis and the enduring call of his family's homeland.

"It was seven years ago when I was invited to show my films in Pakistan...To discover the country, the culture, the people - it all seemed terribly familiar."

"I was immediately inspired to make a contemporary film about Pakistan, especially in this day and age when the perceived schism between Islamists and the Western World becomes more pronounced each day," Nair said in a statement.


Based on Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid's novel of the same name, the film, releasing in India May 3, has an international cast - British-Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed in the title role along with Hollywood stars Kate Hudson, Liev Schrieber and Kiefer Sutherland. Indian actors Shabana Azmi and Om Puri too feature in it.