He got a new nose, shed 11 kilos and swore off gym for two years. But these concessions were all in a day’s work for National Award-winning actor, Arjun Rampal, who plays a gangster-turned-politician in his new
film, Daddy.
“This is the most challenging role and the toughest character I have ever done in my career. I remember Ashim [Ahluwalia, director of Daddy] telling me that he didn’t want to see Arjun Rampal in this movie, ‘I want to see Arun Gawli’,” said Rampal during a press junket in Dubai on August 29th.
Daddy, which will release in the UAE on September 7, chronicles the tale of real-life gangster and politician from Mumbai, Arun Gawli. In 2008, the notorious gangster Gawli was found guilty of murdering a Mumbai politician from a Hindu nationalist party and convicted for a series of crimes including extortion and operating an organised crime syndicate in Mumbai. But it isn’t a propaganda film that will paint Gawli, who is seeking parole now, into a Robinhood figure or a messiah, claims the makers.
“We were very clear that we won’t show him as this social worker. Neither of us wanted it to be a propaganda exercise... But he was more trusting. He is not a guy who is embarrassed about his past,” said Ahluwalia, a filmmaker with strong indie cinema credit.
Both Rampal, who has co-written and produced this film, had to wait for years to get the imprisoned Gawli to approve their project. According to Ahluwalia, Gawli was more forthright once he understood that his biopic would be made by a pair of “brutally honest” team.
Read the full interview in tabloid! soon.
