Daddy (2017)

Yet to see such a marvelous depiction of a character by the protagonist Arjun Rampal! It must have been such a painstaking effort for the producer to clone the environments in which the gangsters bred and this causes me to say that this is Arjun Rampal's best performance!

Throwback to the era of 1970s, to the Mumbai back then, when it was the age of gangsters and Mumbai saw the rise of Gawli, a former ally turned arch rival of Dawood (referred to as Maqsood) in the film, who paves his journey from a sidekick to the gangster turned MLA, but as a result of what he was, he had 120 cases against him, leading him to life imprisonment and is still behind bars.

Daddy is the story about Gawli, whose journey starts from being the gangster, to becoming a don and then an all white collared MLA, he wins the hearts of the Maharashtrians. He is portrayed as the robin hood, while there seems some sympathy and favouritism towards Daddy.
His allies in the form of the gang B.R.A. are shown. The better part of the movie is the fact that the characters that are taken are intended to be resembled to the real life character while the protagonist Arjun Rampal is given the face of the real Gawli.

It seems a cake walk to make a film of the era back then and then show the chawls and brothels of the 1970s. But quite honestly and knowing how difficult the crew must have gone through, it is worth the eulogy for they have literally taken that extra step towards including all the aesthetics and portraying exactly how the surrowndings and environment was back then.

The characters are apt and apposite to their respective roles, with Arjun Rampal who had managed to engulf and project the body language of Arun Gawli. He is shown as a family man, who has the responsibility of the family with the toy of his daughter in one hand and the gun in the other for he is the don to many. Wearing a producer’s cap is not as easy as it seems, but once you go back to showcase an era and that too replicating the environment in which these gang lords  survive and grow up. Can’t imagine another actor who could enact Gawli as good as he had done! Some critics are categorizing it as a slow movie but I beg to differ because it may not be a thriller, yet never in the entire film was I not trying to guess what just might happen next.

Amongst all this is the character of Maqsood, who is portrayed by a surprisingly casted actor (I wouldn’t want to reveal who), but according to the popular responses, isn’t liked by many for he doesn’t live up to the expectation.

 ­­­­The Miss Lovely famous director Ahluwalia has yet again managed to impress the audience. He has done all that was in his capability to showcase the story, but what is to be pointed out is the fact that this story involves a lot of point of views. His journey engulfs the opinions of many, their angles to all the happenings and considering the film, it is favourable towards the protagonist Daddy.

Considering how it is made, the aesthetics, the direction, the dance sequences and how they literally casted our minds back to the yesteryear’s atmosphere, this movie definitely deserves 3 out of 5 stars.