Director Ashim Ahluwalia's Daddy is a certified gangster movie with solid aspirations of being an Arun Gawli biopic. For the uninitiated, Gawli was once as notorious and infamous as Dawood Ibrahim in the world of Mumbai crime. So, this film for most parts, traces Gawli's rise to gangster stardom. It's definitely not a faithful adaptation of Gawli's life. There are a lot of cinematic liberties and a notice at the start of the movie informs you that many characters and situations have been dramatized. In all fairness, till the final 30 minutes, the movie does a fabulous job at recreating a gangster's life. It's intimate and has the aesthetic quality of Hollywood gangster movies. But like so many Hindi films, the climactic moments turn out to be haywire. They just squander the potential of the rest of the film and a superb performance by Arjun Rampal as Gawli.
The movie starts off with Gawli's ambitions of winning in political elections. But his competing politicians and the government don't want that to happen so they put a wily old inspector Vijaykar (Nishikant Kamat) onto his case. Vijaykar has long been a nemesis of Gawli and his investigation of a murder where Gawli is the prime suspect, starts piecing together the past. Random characters from Gawli's life in the '70s and '80s recall his past life and that plays out for the viewer. Gawli's humble beginnings as a mill worker to his initiation into the world of gambling, extortion and eventually as a full-time gangster who competes against Dawood Ibrahim, rechristened Maqsood (Farhan Akhtar) forms the bulk of the narrative. The movie pitches Gawli as a noble hearted gangster who's drawn to a life of crime purely because of his unfortunate circumstances. Even as he competes against Dawood aka Maqsood, he takes the righteous route. Sure, there's killing and criminal activities, but there's a subtext of lesser evil that tries to establish Gawli as a kind man especially when compared to the treacherous Dawood / Maqsood. Later on, when he wins his maiden election to become an MLA and even when he's convicted of murder in court, he pleads that society isn't forgiving enough to let him change and rise above his past life.
Daddy is Gawli's nickname, one that came into prominence once his stance shifted from organized crime to politics. The film tries to establish Gawli as a family man. Someone, who was always repulsed by the life of crime around him, yet situations catapulted him to a life of blood and gore. This particular slant of Gawli being a good man, is a bit hard to swallow. Yet, in the context of the film and its story it works out fine. The slick and intense first-half of the film establishes the characters, the dark Mumbai underworld milieu and the violence to great effect. It feels like you're watching a Ram Gopal Varma film from the late '90s. So much so, that at times, such is the aesthetic appeal of Daddy that is becomes a better film than any other Hindi gangster movie before. Even at times, mimicking the works of Martin Scorsese, at least in terms of pulp appeal. The movie has a good background score, detailed production design and competent cinematography too. It's a technically adept film. But it also looks a lot like Ahluwalia's previous feature Miss Lovely.
What's absolutely refreshing is Arjun Rampal's performance and transformation as Arun Gawli. Yes there's the prosthetic driven cosmetic change, but Rampal does well to adopt Gawli's mannerisms, speech quirks and intensity. This is the most impressive performance of his career. Farhan Akhtar plays Dawood / Maqsood behind the retro goggles, the getup and the moustache. Even though his role is brief, it has big impact. Nishikant Kamat as the persistent cop is brilliant too. The performances of Daddy are all top notch.
The big problem with the film is its middle-of-the-road ambitions. It's a commercial film that's trying to be as authentic as a documentary and as sublime as an art film. That's where it drops the proverbial ball. The climax is underwhelming to say the least. It's as if the narrative can't make up its mind what it wants to do with Gawli's story. Projecting a violent gangster as a changed man and public hero doesn't quite play out as emphatically as it should. Despite its minor flaws, Arjun Rampal's fantastic performance and Ahluwalia's detailed visage make this gangster movie worth a watch.
The movie starts off with Gawli's ambitions of winning in political elections. But his competing politicians and the government don't want that to happen so they put a wily old inspector Vijaykar (Nishikant Kamat) onto his case. Vijaykar has long been a nemesis of Gawli and his investigation of a murder where Gawli is the prime suspect, starts piecing together the past. Random characters from Gawli's life in the '70s and '80s recall his past life and that plays out for the viewer. Gawli's humble beginnings as a mill worker to his initiation into the world of gambling, extortion and eventually as a full-time gangster who competes against Dawood Ibrahim, rechristened Maqsood (Farhan Akhtar) forms the bulk of the narrative. The movie pitches Gawli as a noble hearted gangster who's drawn to a life of crime purely because of his unfortunate circumstances. Even as he competes against Dawood aka Maqsood, he takes the righteous route. Sure, there's killing and criminal activities, but there's a subtext of lesser evil that tries to establish Gawli as a kind man especially when compared to the treacherous Dawood / Maqsood. Later on, when he wins his maiden election to become an MLA and even when he's convicted of murder in court, he pleads that society isn't forgiving enough to let him change and rise above his past life.
Daddy is Gawli's nickname, one that came into prominence once his stance shifted from organized crime to politics. The film tries to establish Gawli as a family man. Someone, who was always repulsed by the life of crime around him, yet situations catapulted him to a life of blood and gore. This particular slant of Gawli being a good man, is a bit hard to swallow. Yet, in the context of the film and its story it works out fine. The slick and intense first-half of the film establishes the characters, the dark Mumbai underworld milieu and the violence to great effect. It feels like you're watching a Ram Gopal Varma film from the late '90s. So much so, that at times, such is the aesthetic appeal of Daddy that is becomes a better film than any other Hindi gangster movie before. Even at times, mimicking the works of Martin Scorsese, at least in terms of pulp appeal. The movie has a good background score, detailed production design and competent cinematography too. It's a technically adept film. But it also looks a lot like Ahluwalia's previous feature Miss Lovely.
What's absolutely refreshing is Arjun Rampal's performance and transformation as Arun Gawli. Yes there's the prosthetic driven cosmetic change, but Rampal does well to adopt Gawli's mannerisms, speech quirks and intensity. This is the most impressive performance of his career. Farhan Akhtar plays Dawood / Maqsood behind the retro goggles, the getup and the moustache. Even though his role is brief, it has big impact. Nishikant Kamat as the persistent cop is brilliant too. The performances of Daddy are all top notch.
The big problem with the film is its middle-of-the-road ambitions. It's a commercial film that's trying to be as authentic as a documentary and as sublime as an art film. That's where it drops the proverbial ball. The climax is underwhelming to say the least. It's as if the narrative can't make up its mind what it wants to do with Gawli's story. Projecting a violent gangster as a changed man and public hero doesn't quite play out as emphatically as it should. Despite its minor flaws, Arjun Rampal's fantastic performance and Ahluwalia's detailed visage make this gangster movie worth a watch.
