Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; September 23, 2015)

Earlier this year, Arjun Rampal had sparked a controversy by meeting dreaded gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli in a city hospital soon after signing Daddy, a biopic on the murder convict. While the project is scheduled to go on floors by October-end, a Marathi film loosely based on Gawli is set to release next week — thereby, threatening to steal Daddy’s thunder.

A source says, “Daagdi Chaawl has been inspired by the Byculla slum neighbourhood of Dagdi Chawl, known for gangster activities during ’80s and ’90s and also as Gawli’s official residence. Makarand Deshpande plays the pivotal role in the Marathi film. Daddy, on the other hand, is still in the scripting stage although the first look was released a few months ago.”

Daagdi Chaawl’s producer, Sangeeta Ahir, who is related to the gangster, claims that the film is not a biopic. “He (Gawli) is one of the characters, but the film is not based on his life. It is not about underworld, though we have tried to show how he is in real life. But I don’t think it will affect any other film, which is in process of making. Several movies have been made on the lives of gangsters in the past, but they did not affect each other. So our film will not affect their film (Daddy) and vice-versa,” she says.

Daddy’s director Ashim Ahluwalia did not respond to our text messages.