Frank Grillo Of “Captain America” Fame Signs Movie Based On Bangladeshi Novel

The popular series of Bangladeshi spy thriller novels will now be making its way to the big screen. Asif Akbar’s upcoming spy thriller “MR-9,” is based on the stories written by Qazi Anwar Hussain. With filming now underway, several cast members have been announced for the film. According to Deadline, the film will star ABM Sumon, who recently appeared in a Bangladeshi spy thriller “Antarjal,” as the titular spy Masud Rana, also known as MR-9, who works for the Bangladesh Counter-Intelligence Agency. Sumon will be facing off against Frank Grillo who is known for his work in “Captain America”, “The Purge” and “Copshop”, who will be playing the main villain for the film. Alongside Sumon and Grillo, the film will also star Michael Jai White, known for his role in “The Dark Knight,” and Matt Passmore who recently starred in “Jigsaw.” Grillo’s son, Remy Grillo, will also be starring in the film in his first acting debut.

Deadline further stated that the screenplay for the film has been adapted by Akbar, Aziz, and Nazim Ud Daula from the first novel ‘Masud Rana: Dhonghsho Pahar’, also known as Demolition Hill, originally published in 1966. The book gained huge popularity and thus, the character of Masud Rana became an icon among the young generation. The prolific writer published around 450 books of the Masud Rana series over more than 50 years of his career. He also wrote many other spy thrillers and adventure novels, and his writing was strongly inspired by foreign detective stories, particularly James Bond.

Filming is set to commence in both English and Bengali, and while exact plot details of the film remain unknown. With the recent end of Daniel Craig’s “James Bond” series, fans of the spy genre may have a new franchise to be excited for.

Bangladeshi production company Jaaz Multimedia, LA-based Al Bravo Films, and MR-9 Films have joined forces to get the film into production. Producers are Al Bravo, Hemdee Kiwanuka, Colin Bates, Akbar, Philip Tan, and Abdul Aziz with executive producers Niko Foster, Peter Nguyen, and Phillip B. Goldfine.

It is definitely heartening to see that iconic South Asian writers are being valued and Hollywood actors like Frank Grillo are interested in being a part of such projects.