The convict, who will be out on bail, will be part of the publicity campaign planned for his biopic
Subhash K Jha (DNA; July 20, 2017)

So, it’s going to happen, after all. The real Arun Gawli will help promote his on-screen avatar, Arjun Rampal’s film, Daddy, this September.

Earlier, this merger of the real and the reel was only an idea. But now it’s confirmed. Arjun says, “We were not sure if Arun Gawli’s bail application would be approved. But still we had postponed the release date of Daddy from July to September hoping he would be able to join us towards the release of the film.” Now the team gears itself for a unique promotional experience wherein a convict will be promoting a biopic when out on bail.

The last time a real-life subject of a biopic promoted a film with his cinematic counterpart was when Mahendra Singh Dhoni got together with Sushant Singh Rajput to promote Neeraj Pandey’s M S Dhoni - An Untold Story. Never mind if there was nothing ‘untold’ about the Dhoni biopic. Arjun promises to shed light on the completely undiscovered facets of Gawli’s life. “The idea is to neither demonise nor eulogise him, but to portray him as human, real and vulnerable, yet strong. No one enjoys being known as a law-breaker. We’ve tried to go into Gawli’s dual image of being the outlaw and the messiah,” he says. Is Gawli okay with being shown with his blemishes? “If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be joining us in promoting the film on his life when he would like nothing better than to spend time with his family,” Arjun reasons.