The biopic on gangster Arun Gawli, Daddy, hit the theatres on September 8. It had generated quite a bit of pre-release buzz, thanks to leading man Arjun Rampal’s authentic look in the film and its acclaimed director Ashim Ahluwalia. But, Farhan Akhtar’s role in the movie was a surprise. His portrayal of Maqsood—modelled on Dawood Ibrahim—was a well-kept secret. There were only unconfirmed whispers about his involvement during the two years of the film’s making. I watched the first show of the film and had my apprehensions about Akhtar’s performance. At times, one even felt he was too effeminate.
I met Akhtar on the same day at Mehboob Studios, in Bandra. On mentioning that it was a surprise to see him as Maqsood, the first time he had portrayed such an intense character, he quipped, “It was quite a trip.” Akhtar said his friendship with Rampal was the reason he did the role. “Arjun is a very, very dear friend. He said there is this part—five or six scenes—and he would really appreciate it if I did that. I said, ‘Absolutely’,” said Akhtar. “The director, Ashim, wanted it a certain way and he was very categorical in terms of how he wanted me to speak, how he wanted the body language to be. I just completely went by his cues. So, what you see is really his doing.”
He said he had not watched the film as he was busy promoting Lucknow Central, which released on September 15. Lucknow Central is about five prisoners who form a music band. It may seem that Akhtar was attracted to this role because he is also a musician. But, he said he was pleasantly surprised with the storyline. When producer Nikkhil Advani first contacted him, Akhtar was not sure “how good it would be”. He was also finishing Rock On 2, a sequel to his 2008 film Rock On!! about a rock band. “I was like I have just finished working on one band film and there’s another one. Nikkhil said that he knew my answer would be ‘no’, but insisted I hear the script,” he said.
Screenwriter Aseem Arora narrated the script and Akhtar was blown away. The film’s director Ranjit Tiwari said: “He looked at me and said, ‘I am doing your film’. He found it moving.” Akhtar said he believes in being part of projects that are inspirational. “There are people who like shedding light on things,” he said. “I like to inspire. That drives me in terms of the scripts that I do, be it Rock On!!, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, or now Lucknow Central. I really feel that within every discussion, it is important to focus on the good things. That will motivate us to be better.” Akhtar’s production house Excel Entertainment is making a film on Paralympian Deepa Malik.
Farhan Akhtar | Amey Mansabdar
Unlike many in the film industry, he has been quite vocal on issues plaguing the society. He had tweeted condemning the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh. “I needed to write, many people similarly have,” he said. “I think at the heart of it everyone knows that what happened is wrong.” For someone so affected by such crimes, it is surprising that he has chosen to make films that are mostly light-hearted. The messages, if any, like in Lakshya (2004), are woven intricately around lighter themes.
“If there’s a [issue-based] story that we can think of, that comes along [we will make it],” said Akhtar. “Eventually, my responsibility is to create a coherent story. That could be about an issue or that could just be fantasy. If it can be about an issue that can create some kind of debate, dialogue or discussion about things that are important, then absolutely.”
The multi-talented Akhtar—director, screenwriter, producer, actor, singer, lyricist and TV host—enjoys whatever he does. Excel Entertainment, which he runs with partner Ritesh Sidhwani, recently expanded to the digital space with Inside Edge, an Amazon original series. While the streaming platform has commissioned a second season of the show, there are two more shows lined-up—Mirzapur, a gangster drama, and Made In Heaven, about two wedding planners. “[To be a part of] emerging technologies, emerging platforms and to be able to do different kind of content for us as storytellers is a very exciting prospect,” said Akhtar. “Fortunately, we have a very good team. Ritesh takes on a huge chunk of production responsibility, a lot more than I do.”
He looks at the digital space as a new avenue through which one can explore much more than in films. “You can create different kinds of content,” he said. “There seems to be the bandwidth when people go into theatres, which is maximum two-and-a-half hours, beyond which they think ‘Bahot lambi ho gayee hai film’.” Therefore, in films, said Akhtar, you are trying to tell your stories in as short a time as possible without losing the essence of your story. He said the digital space allows you to do things differently. “You can have a story that’s said over four-and-a-half or five hours and you can break it down episodically,” said Akhtar. “There are certain kinds of content that you have the freedom to make for a digital platform, which at times, doesn’t fit into the mode when you make a film.”
The budgeting, revenue and audience are all different online. “There are people watching shows on online streaming platforms who don’t go to theatres at all,” said Akhtar. “We were not creating content for them all this while. They were watching foreign shows. It’s nice that we started creating Indian content for them. The success of Inside Edge proves just that.” Inside Edge was not appreciated critically. But that, Akhtar thinks, is a part and parcel of the job. “The fact is that, predominantly, people have enjoyed the show,” he said. “I don’t think Amazon would be asking for season two if they felt that the show wasn’t appreciated. It has done well for them and it has done well for the talent, too.” Akhtar thinks that such platforms afford opportunities for a lot of new talent. “That’s a very heartening thing about digital platforms. You can introduce a lot more talent because the turnaround of work is much faster,” he said. “You constantly need more crew, actors and directors.”
