Gully Boy has been the recipient of praise from several quarters and has also been enjoying a great run at the box office. While majority of the viewers did enjoy the movie, there were a few people who had certain issues with it- like the length, Kalki Koechlin’s character and more.
The Quint decided to ask Zoya about the criticisms against the movie, to know her take on the same.
She was gracious enough to admit to people having differing opinions on the film. “I don’t agree or disagree with anything, if something didn’t work for someone -- it probably didn’t,” she said.
When told that some people felt that MC Sher, played by Sidhant Chaturvedi, could have had a more definitive ending, Zoya agreed and said:
“There was a certain wind up scene that we edited out, due to length. We edited it out because it needed to move ahead, the story had to move.”
Sidhant was in fact, cast three weeks prior to the shoot, when Zoya saw him dancing at a party.
“He calls it his Luck by Chance moment. So, I was like, “Come here...I’m Zoya” and he’s like, “I know who you are”. So I said - “What do you do?” And he was like, “I’m an actor and I know you didn’t recognize me, I was in Inside Edge, which is why I’m dancing to attract your attention.” So I said, “You’ve got it. So can you come in tomorrow and audition?” And he was cast in a day,” Zoya narrated.
When quizzed about Ranveer’s simplistic styling, she said, “The idea behind it is that at the point where Murad starts in the film, he is not where Naezy is (now). So, he couldn’t be dressing like him. (At this point) he doesn’t even know he’s going to be a rapper. He’s a poet, he writes poetry and he loves hip hop music; he hasn’t joined those dots in his head.”
She was also asked about Ranveer’s father’s arc in the film, and why Naezy was not featured in the film, to which she had the most fitting responses.
Gully Boy is playing at a theatre near you.
Camera: Sanjoy Deb
Assistant Camera: Gautam Sharma
Video Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan
Reporters: Bilal Jaleel, Vishnu Venugopalan and Nandakumar R
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