Vijay Tagore (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 26, 2018)

Almost a week after it was reported that Ram Gopal Varma is gearing up to make the ‘real’ Sanjay Dutt biopic (Mirror, July 20), it has emerged that the filmmaker is also putting together a five-part series on his favourite subject, Dawood Ibrahim. Titled D Company, it will kick off soon and the makers have decided to call the central characters by their real names, including Dawood, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem and Chhota Shakeel, among others. It marks RGV’s reunion with Madhu Mantena, who has previously produced his Rann and Rakta Charitra.

The script has been locked while the cast is being finalised. “The research came from my extensive interactions over 20 years with gangsters, encounter cops, middlemen and film people involved with the underworld. The series will not be a Dawood biopic but will present the big picture of D-Company, from its inception to its growth as the most dreaded organisation in India’s criminal history,” Varma, tells Mirror.

It will chronicle the rise and escape of Dawood, who overthrew the Pathan gang, as well as his time in Dubai, when he hobnobbed with film stars. It will also highlight incidents like the Babri Masjid demolition and the Mumbai blasts to trace D-Company’s transition from an underworld unit to a terror factory.