Suraj Sharma in a still from Phillauri

It's a sunny day in New York, actor Suraj Sharma tells us over the phone. The Delhi boy is spending his time pursuing a course in filmmaking at the Tisch School of the Arts. The countdown to the release of his first Bollywood project, the Anushka Sharma-produced Phillauri, has begun and the anxiety is telling. Sharma, who gained recognition as Pi in Ang Lee's survival drama, Life of Pi, went on to deliver a heart-wrenching performance as Aayan Ibrahim, part-time lover of dysfunctional CIA agent Carrie Matherson, played by Claire Danes, in Homeland Season 5. Post Phillauri, he has a crossover film called Burn Your Maps coming up for release, where he plays an ambitious filmmaker who accompanies a family to Mongolia on a soul-searching journey.