Gang Leader For A Day

Following up on my last post,I mentioned that Sudhir Venkatesh, the sociologist who lived among gang members at the Robert Taylor homes in Chicago and was written about in Freakonomics, has his own book, Gang Leader For A Day.

I havent read the book yet. I plan on reading it soon. Now comes word that the book has been optioned for a movie, which will be directed by Hustle and Flow's Craig Brewer. That seems like a great fit for me. This is a story that could be told with the energy Brewer brought to Hustle and Flow and made into a fantastic film.

So who to play Venkatesh? Not that many huge Indian actors in Hollywood, which makes Kal Penn and obvious choice. While he's best none for being Kumar, I think he has potential to be a pretty good actor. But I think an even better choice might be Lost's Naveen Andrews (I had to check Wikipedia on this one... yes, his parents are from India. He's not Iraqi like his character on Lost). A third option is Sendhil Ramamurthy from Heroes. He could be ok but I'd prefer Penn or Andrews. And of course I'm sure there are many more Indian actors to choose from... Those are just the only 3 mainstream Indian actors I can think of.