WHO better than funny man Omid Djalili to play the role of a Jew who lives life thinking he is a Pakistani Muslim? Afterall, he is an Iranian! Confused? Don’t be. After all, Muslims, Jews and Iranians are all the same, according to the makers of the brand new British comedy ‘The Infidel,’ directed by Josh Appignanesi and produced by Uzma Hasan.

The film tells the story of Mahmum Nasir and follows the comic situations he experiences after finding out that he was born Jewish and his real name is Solly Shimshillewitz. As Mahmud tumbles headlong into a full scale identity crisis, the only person he can turn to is his neighbour, Lenny Goldberg (Schiff), a drunken and somewhat anarchic cabbie who agrees to teach him – in his own inimitable style – how to be a Jew. What’s more, adding to his woes, Mahmud has to impress the fiery Islamic cleric Arshad Al-Masri (Naor), future father-in-law to his son Rashid.

It’s a brave decision to make light of religion in a film but will Omid and the rest of the cast be able to pull it off or will it end up offending Muslims and Jews?

Talking about his character, Djalili has told the press: “”Some people assume I’m also an Asian which I’m not, but I’d like to think that if people are upset that this part has been played by a non-Asian – which technically it has to be because the character is Jewish – I would like to think only people who don’t get the film will say, ‘oh, they should have had an Asian playing that part.’”

The Infidel also stars Archie Panjabi (‘Bend it Like Beckham’, ‘East is East’), newcomer Amit Shah, Ravin Ganatra, Igal Naor (‘Greenzone’, ‘House of Saddam’), and Emmy award winner Richard Schiff (‘The West Wing’), as well as featuring an array of comedy-cameos from Matt Lucas, David Schneider, Miranda Hart and Paul Kaye.

The Infidel will release in the UK on April 9 before hitting the US and Middle East.