South Shields eight-year-old boy set to become a Bollywood movie star

Eight-year-old Brayden Narang, from South Shields, spent 16 days filming on the set of a Bollywood movie in September.

Brayden and his family travelled to Birmingham, where he acted out scenes for an upcoming movie, titled Punia Ki Duniya, alongside Bollywood stars Jimmy Shergill, Sharat Saxena, Poonam Dhillon and Swedish-Greek actress Elli Avrram.

It is the latest role for Brayden, who also starred as a supporting actor the ITV crime drama Vera earlier this year.

Brayden’s mum, Leanne, has told the Shields Gazette about the experience and how the part came about for the youngster.

She said: “He took part in an audition before six directors took a look at all of the tapes and five picked out Brayden for the role.

“We were then asked to submit photos of Brayden, had to take part in video calls and submit more tapes but in the end, he managed to get the part.

“I was really nervous for him as when he was on the set of Vera, that was just a supporting role but this time, he had actual lines that he had to say over 16 or 17 scenes.

“He was obviously with all these big Bollywood stars but they loved him and he was dead confident, nothing bothered him when he was on the set.

“The crew were telling us that normally when they work with children, there is quite a few retakes but Brayden was able to say his lines correctly first time, meaning the first take could be used.

“We got lots of feedback about him and were told that his future will be really bright if he continues to progress in the way that he is - it was fantastic.”

The film is being directed by Vakil Singh and is due to be released in cinemas some time around March 2024, something Leanne is very excited for.

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She added: “I can’t wait for it to be released, especially as it is going to be played in cinemas.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing him on the big screen and hopefully it will be played at Boldon.

“We were sat behind the production crew while he was filming his scenes so we got to see all the shots on smaller screens.

“They all looked great so I can’t wait to see the film on a cinema-sized screen.”