MUMBAI: A movie about the life of a notorious Mumbai mafia don comes out in Indian cinemas this week as Bollywood steps up its long-held fascination with the financial capital’s criminal underworld.
“Daddy,” a biopic on gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, hits screens Friday before the release later this month of a film about the infamous sister of Dawood Ibrahim, India’s most wanted man.
Shooting for a third gangster movie, starring Bollywood superstars Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan, will start next year.
For “Daddy” director Ashim Ahluwalia, making a film about a former mafia boss currently serving life in prison for the murder of a local councillor was a little intimidating.
“It is, but Gawli is an older man now, past his prime and we have made the film with his family’s consent. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise,” he told AFP.
“I think he feels he has done his time and that his family has suffered enough. We had to have the Gawli family’s trust. And we assured them that we would not misrepresent.
“However there are others in the film whose consent we did not have and we have thinly disguised some of them, such as a few of the politicians.
“Getting threats is an inevitable part of working on a subject like this,” he added.
Forty-four-year-old Actor Arjun Rampal plays Gawli in “Daddy.”
The film, which takes its title from Gawli’s nickname, charts his life through the 1980s and ‘90s from mill worker to gangster, to kingpin of Mumbai’s Dagdi Chawl-based gang to state politician.
His gang was engaged in a brutal war with Ibrahim’s notorious D-Company for many years.
Gawli faced numerous criminal charges but none stuck until he was found guilty in August 2012 of involvement in the murder of local Shiv Sena party politician Kamlakar Jamsandekar four years earlier.
The 62-year-old is in jail in Nagpur, central India.
“We met him several times and one of the first things I noticed about him is how he doesn’t speak much. He’s rather opaque,” said Ahluwalia.
“(But he) did suggest iterations on the script which were made in consultation with his lawyers because several cases are still pending in the courts.”
The filmmakers say they made a concerted effort not to glorify Gawli.
“We are not trying to promote this lifestyle or this world. We have tried to make a movie that is authentic and entertaining,” Rampal told AFP.
Ahluwalia said the film tells Gawli’s story from several points of view, including from his wife, a rival gang member, and the police.
“This allows the audience to pick which version they want to accept,” he explained.
The movie continues a lengthy fascination that Bollywood has had with Mumbai’s underworld.
In the 1970s veteran superstar Amitabh Bachchan made his name playing a number of angry young men involved in nefarious activities such as “Deewar” (The Wall) and “Don.”
“Satya,” “Company,” “D-Day” and most recently Shah Rukh Khan’s “Raees” built on the gangster genre.
On September 22, “Haseena,” directed by Apoorva Lakhia and about the life of Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar, releases in India.
Actress Shraddha Kapoor plays the central character who became known as the “Queen of Mumbai” for her role in running Ibrahim’s operations after he fled India following the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts.
Connections between Bollywood and gangsters ran deep in the ‘80s and ‘90s when the film industry depended on the criminal underworld for funding.
Before he left India Ibrahim was often photographed with various Bollywood stars at social events, underlining the closeness between the extortions and violence depicted on screen and those carried out in real life.
Lakhia told AFP he made “Haseena” because he wanted to explore why people become criminals. For Ahluwalia gangster movies’ enduring appeal is their escapism.
“These characters act out things that normal everyday people don’t or can’t do. I think that anarchy and being outside the law is a kind of wish fulfilment for some viewers,” he said.
Bollywood turns spotlight on India’s real-life mafia dons
Bollywood turns spotlight on India’s real-life mafia dons
Sale of Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr’s work sets record at Sotheby’s auction in Riyadh
RIYADH: A painting by Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr sold for $2.1 million at Sotheby’s “Origins II” auction in Riyadh on Saturday, emerging as the top lot of the evening and setting a new auction record for a Saudi artist.
The work, “Coffee Shop in Madina Road” (1968), sold for $1.65 million before the buyer’s premium, the additional fee paid by the purchaser to the auction house on top of the hammer price.
The result nearly doubled the previous auction record for a Saudi artist and became the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction in the Kingdom. It also ranks as the third-highest price achieved for an Arab artist at auction.
It was presented as part of “Origins II,” Sotheby’s second auction staged in Saudi Arabia, comprising 62 modern and contemporary lots and bringing together Saudi artists alongside regional and international names.
Collectors from more than 40 countries participated in the auction, with around one-third of the lots sold to buyers within Saudi Arabia.
The sale totaled $19.6 million, exceeding its pre-sale estimate and bringing the combined value of works offered across “Origins” and “Origins II” to over $32 million.
Saudi artists were central to the evening’s results. All nine Saudi works offered found buyers, achieving a combined total of $4.3 million, well above pre‑sale expectations.
Ashkan Baghestani, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Middle East, told Arab News at the auction that “Safeya made more than any other artist tonight, which is incredible.”
He said the results demonstrated Sotheby’s broader objective in the Kingdom.
“The results tonight show exactly what we’re trying to do here. Bring international collectors to Saudi Arabia and give them exposure to Saudi artists, especially the pioneers.”
All nine works by Saudi artists offered in the sale found buyers, generating a combined $4.3 million. Additional auction records were set for Egyptian artist Ahmed Morsi and Sudanese artist Abdel Badie Abdel Hay.
An untitled work from 1989 by Mohammed Al-Saleem sold for a triple estimate of $756,000, while a second work by the artist, “Flow” from 1987, achieved $630,000.
The sale opened with the auction debut of Mohamed Siam, whose “Untitled (Camel Race)” sold for $94,500. Also making his first auction appearance, Dia Aziz Dia’s prize-winning “La Palma (The Palma)” achieved $226,800.
The sale coincided with the opening week of the Contemporary Art Biennale in Riyadh, reinforcing the city’s growing role as a focal point for both cultural institutions and the art market.
Baghestani added that Saudi modern artists are now receiving long‑overdue recognition in the market.
“There’s so much interest and so much demand, and the price is where it should be,” he said.
International highlights included works by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Anish Kapoor, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s growing role as a destination for major global art events and collectors.
Picasso’s “Paysage,” painted during the final decade of the artist’s life, sold for $1,600,000, becoming the second most valuable artwork sold at auction in Saudi Arabia.
Seven works by Lichtenstein from the personal collection of the artist and his wife, including collages, prints, works on paper and sculptures, all found buyers. Warhol was represented in the sale with two works: “Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico),” which sold for $1,033,200, and a complete set of four screenprints of “Muhammad Ali,” which achieved $352,000.
Baghestani said the strength of the results was closely tied to the material’s freshness. “These were not works from the trade. Some of them had not been seen since the 1970s,” he said.
