Once in a while, Talat Aziz is happy to trade his place behind the mic for one in front of the camera. The singer, who was last seen in an extended cameo in Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor (2016), is currently shooting for director Rahul Chittella’s Gulmohar in Delhi. While the script was reason enough to give his nod, the senior actor says the talented cast — Sharmila Tagore and Manoj Bajpayee — was another draw. After all, he wouldn’t let go of an opportunity to share screen space with Tagore, his friend of many years. “Sharmila remains the gentle, classy and graceful person she always was. We have known each other for years through her husband Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. I was a young cricketer, and would often practice with Tiger [Pataudi] and ML Jaisimha. The last time I met Tiger and Sharmila together was in London in 2004. She remains as down-to-earth today as she was the first time I met her,” he says.

Talat Aziz