Emraan Hashmi, the star of Murder, Shanghai and Baadshaho, will celebrate his 39th birthday tomorrow. However, he gave a gift to all his fans a day prior to that. Popular production company T-Series announced that Emraan Hashmi has signed the agreement for his first home production, Cheat India, with them, as well as Atul Kasbekar's Ellipsis Entertainment. Though the project was announced a few weeks, the wheels have started rolling now.

The twitter handle of T-Series posted the above picture of Emraan Hashmi, along with T-Series honcho Bhushan Kumar, Atul Kasbekar and director Soumik Sen, who previously made Gulab Gang. The tweet read, "On the eve of his birthday, @emraanhashmi signed the agreement for his FIRST recently announced home production, "CHEAT INDIA", with @TSeries and @EllipsisEntt. Shooting starts in July 2018 and the release has been slated for January 25, 2019. #CheatIndia".

Cheat India is a movie that looks into the various discrepancies in the education system. This was announced by Hashmi when he had posted about it a few weeks back on his Insta account. He had written, “My production company is delighted to partner with #TSeries (Bhushan Kumar) and #EllipsisEntertainment (Tanuj Garg, Atul Kasbekar) on one of the most engaging and riveting scripts I’ve read in a long, long time. Our production is called #CheatIndia and it will be directed by Soumik Sen. The edge-of-the-seat drama will take a startling look at the crimes in the Indian education system which has created a parallel ecosystem infested with a mafia of sorts. I am sure that every student and youth will hugely relate to the subject. In an era marked by the success of content alone, I’m excited to be essaying a character which I believe will be a landmark one in my filmography. Thank you for all your love and mark February 2019 in your calendar!”

In a separate statement to the media, Emraan Hashmi said, “The script and title of Cheat India are supremely powerful. This is among the most engaging and riveting stories I’ve read in a while and I am thrilled to be essaying what I believe will be a landmark role in my filmography. I am also looking forward to working with some formidable partners – Soumik, an amazing storyteller, Ellipsis, the new kids with a pulse on clutter-breaking content and marketing, and T-Series, with whom I share an old association on music and films.”

Cheat India is scheduled to release on January 25, 2019. On that note, we also wonder what happened to his other dream project, Captain Nawab?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2018 10:05 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).