Actor Suraj Sharma says the story of his new film "The Illegal" is a lot similar to his personal life experiences, and that was the reason he signed the film.

The film, co-starring Adil Hussain and Shweta Tripathi, tells the story of a young film school student from Delhi who heads to Los Angeles to study filmmaking, and ends up a waiter at an Indian restaurant to support his dream.

"During my time in America, I used to go to all these Indian restaurants for my 'ghar ka khaana', where I came across all these Indian people and their back stories, which gave me a very sharp and clear insight of their lives," Suraj said.

He added: "Over the course of years, I realised what intense backgrounds they come from, how they are pushing themselves to provide for their families and fulfil their goals. So, when I came across the script I could relate to the character of Hassan (his role in the film), because I have lived through that and heard about it before."

"The Illegal" premiered on Amazon Prime Video.