Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; September 13, 2016)

Arjun Rampal-starrer Daddy, based on gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli’s life, is back on track. There was talk that the film had been shelved after it faced financial woes. But, the actor maintains that the film is on course.

“A major portion has already been shot. We have about 8 to 10 days of shooting left which we should be able to complete by the month-end. We wanted to shoot during this time of the year since that’s what the script demanded,” he said.

Daddy has been in the making for two years. Earlier, it was produced by two production houses, but both backed out due to creative differences. Last year, Rampal decided to take over as producer. The film is now being made under his home banner, Chasing Ganesha. A decade ago, Rampal had produced I See You.

The actor, who some say bears an uncanny resemblance to the gangster, says, “We have done a lot of research. It wasn’t easy to shoot for the film as we had to through timelines of several decades.”

As Daddy spans over 50 years, they wanted to get the nuances right. The shooting was closely-guarded to keep Rampal’s look under wraps until a couple of months back when he was spotted shooting for a court room scene in south Mumbai.

The biopic marks the Bollywood debut of South actress Aishwarya Rajesh, who plays the role of Gawli’s wife.