Actor Harshvardhan Rane is going to play the character of Daya Nayak in his next directed by Ram Gopal Varma. Ask him what's it like to be on the sets of his movie, and Harshvardhan says, "Being on Ramu sir’s set feels like entering the mind of someone who has already seen the scene from ten different angles. He is not interested in making you 'perform' he watches behaviour, instinct and the smallest reactions. That keeps you alert because anything false is immediately visible to him. There is freedom on his set, but that freedom also demands complete honesty."

He goes on to admit being a fan of Varma's work, and shares, "Working with him was something I had quietly hoped for. But when it finally happened, I tried not to approach it like a fan fulfilling a dream. I approached it like an actor who had been given a serious responsibility—and wanted to earn his director’s trust every day."

He adds, "Films like Shiva, Satya and Company didn’t just entertain us; they changed the grammar of Indian crime cinema. Ramu sir made silence, fear and unpredictability feel cinematic."

On playing the cop Daya Nayak, Rane states he wanted to understand the character internally. "I studied the facts, listened to Daya sir, understood Ramu sir’s interpretation—and then tried to find my own honest version of him," he adds.

Harshvardhan Rane began his acting career with television before making his Telugu film debut with Thakita Thakita (2010). He went on to feature in films including Naa Ishtam, Avunu, Prema Ishq Kaadhal, Maaya and Avunu 2, before making his Hindi breakthrough with Sanam Teri Kasam (2016). His subsequent work includes Paltan, Taish, Haseen Dillruba, Tara vs Bilal, Dange, Savi, The Miranda Brothers and Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat.

After ‘Hunkkaar: The Roar’ and the upcoming ‘Teen Kauwe’, we’ll see Fatima Sana Shaikh in a crime action drama. mid-day has learnt that the actor has shot for a special appearance in Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Police Company’.

With Harshvardhan Rane playing Mumbai encounter specialist Daya Nayak, the film is being mounted as a gritty account of the Mumbai Police Detection Unit in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and its battle with the underworld.

While ‘Police Company’ rolled in August, a source close to the production revealed that Shaikh shot her portions in September. “Fatima’s appearance in the film is brief, but crucial to the plot. It’s not a token cameo. There were only a few people on set the days she shot, including her body double,” said the source.

Varma has envisioned ‘Police Company’ as a two-part offering. We’ve heard that Shaikh may have a meaty role in the second part. The source added, “Her track reveals an important aspect in the story. That’s why her casting hasn’t been announced.”

mid-day reached out to Varma, who didn’t respond till press time.

It’s safe to say that Harshvardhan Rane’s career hasn’t followed a conventional trajectory. After making his mark in Telugu cinema, the actor moved to Bollywood with Sanam Teri Kasam (2016). The film failed to make an impact at the time but found a second life with its 2025 re-release, becoming a theatrical success and putting Harshvardhan back in the spotlight.

The actor, who went on to do films like Haseen Dillruba, Dange, Savi and, more recently, Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat, tells us that he never had a roadmap and had to constantly navigate his way through uncertainty.

Asked if he ever felt like giving up during those difficult phases, Harshvardhan says his circumstances made him stronger. “Having perseverance is something I think I was born with, while circumstances forced me to become bold and strong. My philosophy is that nothing is given to you; you have to find your own path. When you enter a jungle, you can’t expect a map, so it is pointless to complain about not having one. A jungle, by definition, is where you don’t know what will happen. So when I talk about circumstances, I mean finding your own way through every ordeal.”

He insists that quitting was never really an option. “Giving up is a luxury which I never could afford. It is a quirk of the privileged,” he smiles and adds, “So, let’s say, fortunately I am not privileged.”

Harshvardhan’s next project, Ram Gopal Varma’s Police Company, has him step into the role of a character inspired by Mumbai encounter specialist Daya Nayak — a casting choice, he admits, that even people who have known him for years would never have imagined. For him, the role is an opportunity to challenge the stereotype.

He says, “I feel actors get easily stereotyped. I believe actors are capable of doing romance, comedy and other things. I’m playing the role of Daya Nayak — nobody could have thought that I’d be playing this part in a Ram Gopal Varma film.”

What seems to excite Harshvardhan equally is the filmmaker he is working with. Having watched RGV’s distinctive cinematic language over the years, he says witnessing his process from close quarters has been an eye-opener.

“RGV has blown my mind with his artistic nature on set. There is a strange quality of following something extremely cinematic and breaking the mould. So there is this full tug of war, this push and pull between going cinematic and breaking the grammar. I love that process.”

The shooting of Ram Gopal Varma’s Police Company was stalled for nearly five hours on Monday at a set in Versova, after technicians and daily-wage workers affiliated with the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) refused to work over Rs. 1.32 crore in pending dues dating back nearly nine years. The impasse ended after Rs. 1.11 crore was transferred to FWICE, following which work resumed.

Birendra Nath Tiwari, President of FWICE, says, “Varma, who owed money to technicians and daily-wage workers for three projects, including Sarkar 3 (2017) and Officer (2018), had written a letter to us in 2019, assuring us that the dues would be cleared at the earliest and requesting that he be allowed to continue working. We kept following up with him, but he continued to avoid the issue. We contacted him again when we learnt that he was preparing to shoot his next project, but for almost a month, we were told that the payment would be made shortly and were asked not to take action.”

The association eventually decided to halt the shoot over the unpaid dues. Ashok Dubey, Honorary General Secretary of FWICE, says, “On Monday, we had no choice but to stall the shoot. We asked the cameraman, fighters and members of the lighting department not to work until the payment was made. The outstanding amount involved several departments, including fighters, spot boys and the sound department. After almost nine years, the workers finally received the money that was due to them.”

FWICE Chief Advisor and President of the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA), Ashoke Pandit, adds, “It is high time producers recognize that technicians and daily-wage workers who contribute to completing a film also have families and responsibilities. We do not want to stop a shoot or cause difficulties because the producer can also suffer as a result. We will continue to seek action when payments are withheld.”

There was no response from RGV till the time of going to press.

Earlier in June, FWICE and Ram Gopal Varma clashed after the filmmaker took to social media to criticise the federation over its directive concerning Ranveer Singh’s Don 3. FWICE hit back at Varma, with Chief Advisor Ashoke Pandit objecting to his remarks and questioning his credibility on the issue. Pandit alleged that Varma owes more than Rs. 1 crore in unpaid dues to technicians and daily-wage workers since 2017, including those who worked on Officer (2018).

He said Varma had assured FWICE in 2019 that the dues would be cleared, but the payments remain outstanding. Pandit also defended FWICE’s role in protecting the interests of technicians and workers, maintaining that the federation has a responsibility to intervene when members’ payments are withheld. The exchange added another layer to the ongoing friction between Varma and the federation.