Ranveer and Alia take Berlin
Ranveer Singh plays a slum boy who discovers rap and uses it to vent his anger
Actor Ranveer Singh said India could be on the cusp of a musical revolution with the kind of Hindustani hip-hop that is the subject of his new movie premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.
Gully Boy, directed by India’s Zoya Akhtar, tells the fictional tale of Murad (Singh), a student who lives in a slum and ends up temporarily substituting for his injured father as chauffeur for a wealthy family.
He discovers a talent for rapping and uses it to vent his anger about poverty and the chasm between rich and poor, writing lines about babies cowering next to skyscrapers and wealthy people’s cars being as big as poor people’s homes.
“This film is something that takes a genre of music that has essentially been underground in India so far and brings it to the mainstream,” Singh said.
“I want this to be the beginning of something because I really think Hindustani hip-hop is a revolution. It’s more than just music. It’s a musical and social revolution,” he said.
The coming-of-age film depicts a young man who refuses to accept what his father has taught him — that he cannot afford big dreams and should get a stable office job — and who defies class conventions by secretly dating Safeena (Alia Bhatt), a doctor’s daughter.
Safeena is confident and violently attacks potential love rivals while Murad is a more sensitive and reserved character. “Traditionally our films and gender dynamics are structured very differently,” Singh said. “So that’s an aspect of our film that we’re very proud of.”