Amyra Dastur joins cast of Excel Entertainment's web series, an adaptation of Hussain Zaidi's book Dongri to Dubai

Amyra Dastur has been roped in to star in Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s next production venture Dongri To Dubai. The web series, adapted from Hussain Zaidi’s book Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia, will be directed by Shujaat Saudagar of Rock On 2 fame. [caption id=“attachment_8073601” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Amyra Dastur. Image from Twitter[/caption] “They just gave me a character brief and dialogues to memorise. I did my best and after a few days I was called back for a second audition because they wanted to check if I could do the scenes in a different way to show my versatility. “Everyone seemed happy with my performance and Shujaat called me to the office for a narration. I loved what I heard and then requested the team to send me all the episodes to read before I gave them an official confirmation,” Amyra said in a statement. The show revolves around the life of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and captures his early life the big mob bosses at the time and his gang. Amyra said she has read the book and has loved the world of gangsters that is created by the writers. “This show is adapted from a gripping book which I’ve read and loved. The power crazed gangsters and world of crime is what interested me the most.It’s set in the 70s and 80s so you get to see a different side to Mumbai, the birth of Mumbai in a way. “I have never done a period based project and the fact that we get to go back in time with this one was magic to my ears. The fact the Excel Entertainment is producing it was the cherry on the cake.” Dongri To Dubai will have a ten-episode season one. She will also be seen in a prominent part in Ali Abbas Zafar’s next web series on Amazon Prime, starring Saif Ali Khan in the lead. The actor is happy to be doing work on the digital platform as she believes it has a wider reach. “At the end of the day, Web or OTT has a much further reach than anything today. It doesn’t matter when or where you watch it because it’s going to be there forever. That’s the beauty of web,” she added. Film wise, she will be seen in T-Series’ murder mystery Koi Jaane Na, co-starring Kunal Kapoor.