June 22, 2017
National Award winning actor-producer
Arjun Rampal, who is getting a positive response for "Daddy", says
getting the physical resemblance right for his forthcoming film, based
on gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, was important for him.
Arjun is the co-writer and producer of the film as well.
Asked if he was the obvious choice for the character, Arjun told IANS:
"Getting the look right was very important for me. I wouldn't have done
‘Daddy' as an actor if I failed the look-test. So after the writing was
done, the scary part came -- the look test. I told Ashim (Ahluwalia)
that if my look-test is miserable, I will still produce the film, Ashim
will still direct it, and we will get another actor who would look like
Arun Gawli."
While the actor used a prosthetic nose to get the facial resemblance
correct, there was a physical transformation as well.
Talking about it, he said: "I am playing a real life character, so the
first thing for me was to look like him. I did not go to the gym for
two years and stopped lifting weight to lose 20 kg, as I had muscle.
For the character, I had to look thin. Such physical transformation
along with the production design through which Ashim created the world
of Arun Gawli...It helped me as a performer."
"Daddy" is about a man who was for a long time associated with major
kidnappings, extortions, contract killings and other major crimes in
Mumbai. Always seen with a Gandhi cap, Gawli was elected legislator in
the 2004 assembly elections and continued to be one till 2009. In 2008,
he was nabbed for Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar's murder
along with over a dozen associates.
The film is releasing on July 21.