Zoya Akhtar’s directorial Gully Boy, inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers DIVINE and Naezy, has reached a significant milestone, celebrating five years of release. The film stars Ranveer Singh as Murad Ahmed, a final-year college student who resides in the Dharavi slums of Mumbai, nurturing a passion for underground rap music. Alongside Singh, the film features Alia Bhatt, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Kalki Koechlin, Vijay Varma, Amruta Subhash, and Vijay Raaz.
In a recent conversation with IMDb marking the five-year anniversary of Gully Boy, Akhtar discussed her favourite scene from the film and highlighted Ranveer’s character, Murad’s predicament of being denied access to certain places in the city. She expressed, “When he (Murad) gets a job as a driver, he’s always seen outside the bungalow. When he drives the lady of the house for a night out, he stands outside the club. He can’t even be near the door. He only has access to the government hospital or the college where he’s a student.”
Elaborating and dissecting Murad’s journey as an artist, she added, “As he evolves as an artist, his access expands. This is the first time he enters the home of someone like Sky (Kalki Koechlin). He’s never been to those high-rise apartments. He finds himself in her restroom and can’t help but notice that it’s the size of his entire home.”
Akhtar also shared insights into the challenges faced while filming this particular scene, mentioning how she struggled to find a suitable location and reached out to her friend Suzanne Khan for assistance. Khan provided a show flat she had designed for a building, where they ultimately shot the scene. Reflecting on the process, Akhtar said, “During rehearsals, we realised there was no running water. So we improvised, starting the scene with him (Singh) wiping his hands. Ranveer improvised by neatly placing the hand towel back, which touched my heart because he didn’t want to disrupt the perfection of the space. Then he proceeds to measure the room, unable to believe that someone has a restroom in their home as big as his entire house. To me, that encapsulates everything—the divide, the disparity, the unfairness. It’s everything.”
