Nikkhil Advani's upcoming show "Hasmukh" features Vir Das as a reluctant killer, and the Bollywood filmmaker says people will be surprised to watch the popular stand-up comedian in the his new avatar.

In the trailer of the Netflix show, Vir is a comedian who needs to kill someone before performing on stage. As an individual, he does not like the whole act of killing people, but he has no other way to get the right kick to perform as a comedian on stage. He battles the dilemma.

"I think the audience will find it interesting to watch Vir in that avatar. No one can imagine Vir like that, because even in real life he is a stand-up comedian. He has acted really well. The story is of a reluctant killer. It is a fight between moral and ambitions," Advani said.

The show is directed by Nikhil Gonsalves and also features Ranvir Shorey, Manoj Pahwa, Ravi Kishan, Amrita Bagchi, Suhail Nayyar, Inaamulhaq and Raza Murad.

According to the filmmaker, he always wanted to collaborate with the celebrated stand-up comedian. "Vir and I always wanted to collaborate. He came up with the idea, and I suggested making the story a little darker. So, we developed the script accordingly. We have got a great casting with some of the finest actors. Things just fell in place nicely," said Advani, about the show which releases on April 17.

Asked if digital release is an advantage during the time of lockdown, Advani replied: "It is a big advantage for us that the show is releasing now on Netflix, when people are sitting at home and consuming a lot of digital content. But, it was always meant to release at this point of time. It was planned to release in April."

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)