Producers: Arjun Rampal & Rutwij Patel
Director: Ashim Ahluwalia
Star Cast: Arjun Rampal, Aishwarya Rajesh, Nishikant Kamat, Anand Ingale, Rajesh Shringarpure, Purnand Wandekar, Anupriya Goenka, Shruti Bapna, Usha Naik, Shrikant Yadav, Deepak Damle, Girish Pal, Raj Arjun, Vijay Sanap, Abhimanyu Arun, Mir Sarwar & Farhan Akhtar
Music: Sajid – Wajid
The underworld that ruled Mumbai at one point has spun many films over the years. But surprisingly, no film was made solely on Arun Gawli, who has also been a prominent figure in the city’s underworld & politics and continues to be. Director Ashim Ahluwalia takes the challenge and comes up with Daddy, and makes an unconventional choice of having a suave Arjun Rampal for a character that’s diametrically opposite to his persona in all aspects.
Although the scripted scenario of Daddy is based on the real life story of Maharashtra’s underworld Don Arun Gawli of Dagdi Chawl, Daddy has been presented as the story of the roller-coaster life of Arun Gawli. The story begins in the late 70’s when the mills in Bombay (present day Mumbai) gets shut, rendering lakhs of people jobless and even homeless. In a locality in central Mumbai, Dagdi Chawl, 3 youngsters get lured into the underworld. They form the “B.R.A. Gang” which is the acronym of their names – Babu Reshim (Anand Ingle), Rama Naik (Rajesh Shringarpore) & Arun Gawli (Arjun Rampal). Arun Gawli however becomes quite prominent and soon enters politics. How he becomes a boon for the Dagdi Chawl residents & a bane for the police force forms the rest of the story.
Ashim Ahluwalia’s direction is the biggest culprit. He fails to do justice to the script, however faulty it may be. With his execution, he could have taken the film to a great height. But barring a few scenes & the finale courtroom sequence, he misses the mark. Few scenes are quite bewildering. For instance, the encounter attempt on Arun Gawli at the “nakabandi” failed to make an iota of sense. And why was Arun using paper ballot to vote when EVMs had already been introduced by then? Daddy begins on a shocking note and you expect the film to be a fast –paced drama, a well – preserved gangster drama. The film however falls a bit immediately but still, the scenes of the B.R.A. gang are engaging. But as the film progresses, it becomes too confusing & incoherent. Too many things are packed in the film’s 135 minutes run time. Also there are far too many characters. One fails to understand who exactly is the villain and if it’s the system that’s the villain, then it’s not established very well. It is mentioned that poverty drove Arun to crime but one never gets to see his family struggling due to poor economic conditions. Moreover, the film suffers from another strange problem, the background score & sound design at places is too loud because of which certain dialogues are inaudible. Arjun Rampal & Ashim Ahluwalia’s scripted story is weak and should have been detailed. The screenplay is average as it fails to put together the life of Arun Gawli in a cinematic format. Ritesh Shah’s dialogues are strictly okay and fail to register. Sajid – Wajid’s music is average. “Eid Mubarak” & “Aala Re Aala Ganesha” are relegated to the background. “Zindagi Meri Dance Dance” however is quite impressive & reminiscent of the bygone era. Naren Chandavarkar & Benedict Taylor’s background score has an 80’s touch & is entertaining. Jessica Lee Gagne & Pankaj Kumar’s cinematography could have been better. There are far too many close up shots. Deepa Bhatia & Navnita Sen Datta’s editing is disappointing. Despite being 135 minutes long, the film feels like a 3 hours+ fare. Parul Sondh’s production design is authentic. Nidhi & Divya Gambhir’s costumes are also straight out of life but the wigs worn by the characters look fake. Sham Kaushal’s action is gory but it was the requirement of the film.
Performance wise Arjun Rampal however saves the film to a great extent. Arjun proves his worth as an actor in this film and gets totally into the skin of his character. Surely, this is one of his most accomplished works! Aishwarya Rajesh (Zubeida) has a fine screen presence and gets the best scope among the other actresses. Shruti Bapna (Rani) leaves a mark while Anupriya Goenka (Hilda) gets scope only in the post interval scene with Arjun Rampal. Farhan Akhtar (Maqsood) is quite decent as the dreaded Don. Rajesh Shringarpore gives a bravura performance is a highlight of the 1st half of the film. Anand Ingle looks menacing and puts his best foot forward. Nishikant Kamat (Inspector Vijaykar) is quite nice and he has a crucial part in the film. His character however is quite controversial and the way Mumbai Police is shown as being hand in glove with Dawood like gangster is bound to raise eyebrows. Purnanand Wandekar (Vijay), Raj Arun (Rafique) & Deepak Damle (Phamplet Bandya) are too good in small roles.
Tail Piece: On the whole, Daddy is poor show due to its incoherent script & weak direction. Arjun Rampal’s performance is the sole factor that makes the film realistic. Watch it if you are a fan of Arjun Rampal or gangster flicks.
