Ali Fazal on reimagining Mirzapur scene after, as per contract, he refuses to use expletives in front of children
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; August 20, 2019)

Ali Fazal has been stationed in Banaras over the past few weeks, shooting for the second season of his hit show Mirzapur. The actor plays a gun-toting and expletive-spewing gangster, Guddu Pandit, in the Amazon Prime crime thriller that offers a hard look at the lawlessness of the region. While Fazal has had no qualms about using foul language in front of the camera, understanding well enough that it is the demand of the character, the actor recently put his foot down when a scene required him to hurl expletives in front of kids.

A source informs that on the day of the shoot, Fazal read the sequence and immediately expressed his reservation to the team. "Since the dialogues were heavy on expletives, Ali was clear that the scene can't include kids. He reasoned that Mirzapur is an A-rated show and is strictly for the audience above 18 years of age, and it wouldn't be right to expose children to such language. Ali is dead against the use of vulgar language in front of children; it's even a part of his contract."

Confirming the development, Fazal explains, "We expose our children to too much negativity anyway. They can totally do without the use of vulgar language around them. The show has a certain milieu and there is a sturdy context for the language we use on the show. Those above 18 will have the emotional and social maturity to understand the intent. But young children are impressionable and there's no need to subject them to this when we can avoid it. Kids should be protected as much as possible. Additionally, it's also our responsibility to not allow kids to watch such content at home."