Arjun Rampal unveils his look from Daddy; resemblance to Arun Gawli is uncanny

Until Rock On 2, that released last month, actor Arjun Rampal had not appeared on the silver screen for over a year. His last release was Vikramjit Singh’s thriller Roy. [caption id=“attachment_3130178” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Arjun Rampal in a still from ‘Daddy’, which got leaked days ago.[/caption] Roy had bombed at the box office and Rock On 2 did not help either. While the prequel had earned him his first National Award, the sequel failed to live up to the mark at the box office. The actor partly blamed demonetisation for the lackluster performance. Now, Rampal plays a Bengali cop in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani 2 which is slated to release this Friday. In an interview with film critic Rajiv Masand, Ghosh claimed that he cast Rampal because he “looked the part”. It is yet again, his physical appearance, which allowed him to bag another film — Daddy, a biopic based on the life of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli. His resemblance to the infamous don from Chinchpokli, Mumbai, allowed the director Ashim Ahluwalia to sign him in and as Daddy. Gawli was referred to as ‘Daddy’ because he was considered the Robin Hood of his chawl. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 as he was proved guilty of murdering a Shiv Sena leader. Rampal released a unique teaser of his film on Twitter which consisted of the real Gawli’s rusty voice. An interview with the gangster in the audio boasts of his comeback and his claims of being the hero of the masses. An upbeat dramatic soundtrack accompanies his voice. Adjectives like ‘fearless’ and its synonyms flash on the screen one after the other as Gawli’s raw voice echoes in one’s ears.

Another teaser did the rounds on social media which takes the narrative of the biopic forward. The teaser starts with Rampal as Gawli being interrogated. With poise and style, Gawle rubbishes all the allegations for which he has been arrested with precise one-liners. Placed between those questions are glimpses of flashback that show Gawle carrying out those heinous acts one after the other. At the end of the interrogation, when Gawle is asked his name, he looks up into the camera and announces his name proudly proving that ‘he was the only one who did not run.’ The teaser continues, focusing on Gawle’s popularity in his chawl as people are seen chanting ‘daddy! daddy!’ as Gawle greets them. An upbeat Marathi drum and bell sequence accompanies the visuals adorning them with some local flavour as the film is set in  Mumbai. Watch the teaser here:

Rampal also unveiled his look from the film through a small slideshow that shows the profile of the real Gawli fade into Rampal’s portrait from the film. The look was leaked days ago during the shooting of the film, much to the dismay of Rampal.

Here it is guys the first look of #Daddy let me know your thoughts. #Daddy #Eros #Erosnow #comingsoon pic.twitter.com/R3J1QMkeRv

— arjun rampal (@rampalarjun) November 29, 2016

The Indian Express reports that an Italian prosthetic specialist had been roped in to replicate Gawli’s look on Rampal. Going by the teaser, it seems like he has done a fairly good job. Aren’t we all looking forward to Daddy now?