Daddy movie review: A perfectly comprehensible story of an imperfect man

Directed By: Ashim Ahluwalia
Produced By: Kundalini Entertainment
Cast: Arjun Rampal, Aishwarya Rajessh
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 3/5

“Arun utna hi bura hai, jitna tu. Woh Police wale ke ghar pe paida hota, toh police banta. Aur tu Dagdi pe, toh tu gangster,” – says Zubaida aka Asha Gawli, Arun Gawli’s wife, to a police officer.

And there comes the truth, shoved on your face.  Behind a person with a dark present is probably a sinless soul who was put amid taxing circumstances. To say that nobody is a born criminal would be an over-simplification of reality. It is rather like, criminals are born out of individuals. Ashim Ahluwalia’s ‘Daddy’, that way, tells you how one of the country’s deadliest gangsters was born, out of a man who once dreamt of nothing more than a happy home.

Spanning over three decades, from 70s to now, the film catches Arun Gawli’s life on celluloid with its mentionable ups and downs; and does so kind of effectively. Gawli (Arjun Rampal), who started off being a mere part of a local gang, is gradually met with the ultimate bhai Maqsood (played by Farhan Akhtar, inspired by Dawood Ibrahim’s character). He wants to depart with crime, but crime doesn’t spare him. In the mean time, he happens to meet, fall in love and marry Zubaida (Aishwarya Rajessh). The course of turning DADDY from Arun includes depletion of friends, near ones, comfort of home, sense of security and much that couldn’t be gathered in words. But who dominates your mind from beginning to end is a man with interminable dilemma inside, and a strange sense of affection and righteousness that are quite in contrary to his otherwise ‘gangster’ image.

Further, the film raises several questions that are especially relevant on the backdrop of a country consisting of miscellaneous citizens, in terms of education, moral practices and access to social privileges. While nothing can justify a crime, how open are we to allow a criminal to reform himself? Keep that aside. Have we, as a structured society, been able to ensure a circumstance for the marginal people (in all meanings) wherein they get through their basic rights? Hence, when a boy from a chawl grows up surrounded by goons and becomes another himself, who do we really blame? The surroundings? Or the ones who let it flourish? One step further, we have authorised a system (represented by few people who we elect) to ensure justice for us, no matter what your or my social, political and financial stand is. How guiltless is the system itself, though? Talk of murky political conflicts and conspiracies clad in shameless abuse of power, and we all will have at least one instance to mention. To say that the ‘system’ is the deserving body to punish criminals would be to comfortably overlook the dirtiest mud the system itself hides. Or is it hidden, at all?

Was daddy a messiah? No. He looks like a person with equal share of mistakes which he probably would have rectified, given a chance. What might set him apart is his undying love for people. The people who elevated him to DADDY from being another gangster. The film, however, could be a bit more critical on him.

‘Daddy’ is production wise a strong film that carefully recreated Bombay of 70s. The shady chawls, the small nuances of dressing, the glittery and loud discs are perfectly recreated. It features strong performances from Arjun Rampal, Nishikant Kamat (the police officer we began with; the one who delayed his retirement to arrest Gawli), Anand Ingale (Babu) and Rajesh Shringarpur (Rama); two of Gawli’s closest companions. Aishwarya Rajessh is decent; however, within her character’s limited span. The misfit is Farhan Akhtar, with a perfect makeover but unconvincing personality. Further, it would be unfair to call this a ‘special appearance’, because his role is as good as that of a side role!

We could fairly manage without the ‘Zindagi Meri Dance Dance’ number, that was only made to add some flavour, we assume.

The film, however, does slow up in the first half. At times, we have to gather the story on ourselves. Further, it had chances to be more gripping.

However, ‘Daddy’ deserves one watch for attempting to explore a life as interesting as Arun Gawli’s!

Watch trailer:

Ranjini Maitra

Journalist. Writer. Reader. Enthu cutlet. Mood-swing machine. Day dreamer. Sandwiched between ‘live life fully’ and ‘lose some weight’. Mantra of life: Love and love more.