Arun Gawli was glorified by his own merit, says Arjun Rampal
Arjun Rampal is back on screen with a biopic on former politician and gangster, Arun Gawli, titled Daddy. When the first look came out, the actor was lauded for his uncanny resemblance to the gangster. As he gears up for the film’s release, Arjun is hoping that everything falls into place this time. Excerpts from an interview:
Your look in the film has been widely appreciated and spoken about. How excited are you?
I’ve been getting some great feedback. You want people’s expectations to be high because you are trying to do something different. So hopefully, it will all fall into place. When I saw myself for the first time in the complete look, even I was shocked.
You are bringing to life Arun Gawli’s life. Are you worried that it might be misunderstood for glorifying a gangster’s life?
I think audiences will empathise with the character because what we wanted to do really was for people to see his human side. Of course, the political scenario and the underworld is the backdrop, but what you are essentially seeing is the person — Arun Gawli’s emotions. And to be honest, he is quite glorified anyway by his own merit. So why are we running away from it? He is known as Daddy by the people in Dagdi Chawl, so obviously, he has done a lot of good for people. He stood for an election and won it. He couldn’t have put a gung to someone’s head at the voting booth and won right? If he was dread and hated, he wouldn’t have won the election. So in that sense, he is already a hero in a lot of people’s mind. But are we trying to make him a hero and push down only that aspect of his life? No, we haven’t done that in the film.
What was Arun Gawli’s reaction when you showed him the film?
We had to be very sensitive about a lot of things while working on the project. It’s not a biopic on a sports personality or a freedom fighter. It’s not a propaganda film or a heroic film. But when I showed him the film, he was quite taken aback. This film is not one of those films, which give you instant gratification. It’s a film that will make you think and will stay with you.