Raju Shinde (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 24, 2019)

Mirror (December 14, 2018) had earlier reported that after SRK’s Bauua in Zero, Riteish Deshmukh will play a vertically challenged character in Milap Zaveri’s next directorial, Marjaavaan, which reunites the actor with his Ek villain co-star Sidharth Malhotra. On Wednesday, Riteish was spotted shooting at an under-construction building in Sion. He stood out in a maroon shirt, black trousers and a white tilak streaking his forehead. With his dishevelled leonine mane and overgrown beard, surrounding by a gang of gun-wielding men in camoflauge, the actor looked every inch the dreaded antagonist.

Milap who had written the dialogues of the 2014 actionthriller Ek Villain, had described the character as “three-and-a-half feet of wicknedness”. On Wednesday, along with Riteish, his vertically challenged double (see pic alongside), was also present on the scene. “Even though he is a dwarf, his character is larger-than-life. The part is extremely wicked with dark humour, great punch lines and some crazy faceoff scenes with Sid,” Miap promises.

The set-up was created on Tuesday night and the shoot continued through the following day. The film produced by Nikkhil Advani and Bhushan Kumar is looking to release on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti. “It’s a long Dussehra weekend and Raavan plays a significant role in the plot,” Nikkhil had explained.