Santosh Patel, Pi's father, is played by ADIL HUSSAIN. Adil began his professional career after receiving the Charles Wallace Trust Scholarship to study acting at the Drama Studio, London immediately upon graduating from the National School of Drama. In 1997, Adil was invited to act as the lead in Moeder India by the Amsterdam-based International Danstheater Company, touring for eighteen months. In 1999, he portrayed Othello in the acclaimed production of 'Othello: A play in Black and White' by the Indian Shakespeare Company. The production was honored with the Edinburgh Fringe First and Adil continued to tour with the company, performing in Zimbabwe, France, England, Egypt, Germany, Holland, Belgium and India.

Adil served as a visiting faculty member at the Drama School in Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatory of Performing Arts in The Hague from 1997 through 2001. Since 2001 he has served as a visiting faculty member and acting teacher at the National School of Drama in New Delhi and beginning in 2007, he taught at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.

Adil's later work include his lead role in the BBC's World Trust Service Production for Doordarshan India, as well as Othello in A&B Motion Pictures' film production of In Othello, as well as leading roles in films such as Iti Srikanta (2004) and in the play Orientations (2003-2004) directed by Michael Walling for Border Crossings Theater Company in London.

From 2004 to 2007 Adil served as Artistic Director and Trainer for the Society for Artists and Performers in Hampi, Karnataka.

More recently, Adil played leading roles in the 2009 Bollywood production Ishqiya, and the film For Real. In 2010 he received critical acclaim as the protagonist, a photojournalist in Gangor (2010), which screened at the Rome Film Festival.

Adil recently appeared in Lessons in Forgetting (2011), adapted from the novel written by Anita Nair; and as the antagonist in a Bollywood spy thriller titled Agent Vinod.