Shreyas Talpade was told to cancel his wedding because 'Iqbal couldn't be married', had to keep it 'under wraps'

Shreyas Talpade has recalled the story of how director Nagesh Kukunoor demanded that he cancel his wedding because the world couldn't know that he wasn't actually a teenager, like his character in Iqbal.

Actor Shreyas Talpade recalled that director Nagesh Kukonoor was 'livid' when he learned that Shreyas was on the verge of getting married. The duo worked together on the National Award-winning film, Iqbal.

Shreyas Talpade poses with wife Deepti.

The actor was supposed to begin filming Iqbal in three days when he asked the director for a holiday on December 31. Nagesh assumed that he wanted to party, but when Shreyas told him that he was going to get married on that day, Nagesh told him to 'cancel' the wedding.

Shreyas told a leading daily in an interview, "Here I was, a middle-class guy whose wedding cards had gone out, being told to cancel it; I didn’t know what to do. It was after a lot of convincing, and assuring him that I would keep the wedding under wraps, that he let me have a day off."

Even producer Subhash Ghai wasn't aware of Shreyas' marital status. "When Subhash ji saw her one too many times at screenings and enquired, Nagesh told him who I really was. He refused to believe I was married. To him, I was an 18-year-old boy who had had a child marriage and was not even feeding his wife, making her faint." he said.

Iqbal featured Girish Karnad and Naseeruddin Shah, who also won a National Award for his performance.