Only Ranveer Could Play Murad: Divine on ‘Gully Boy’

Here’s what went on behind the scenes of ‘Gully Boy’

Almost six months after the release and success of Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt-starrer Gully Boy, the makers of the film have dropped a new video that gives an exclusive peek into the everything behind-the-scenes. The video begins with Zoya Akhtar as she talks about the first time she came across the Indian hip-hop scene.

I was actually editing my film ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ and my editor showed me this video, which was track called ‘Aafat!’ by this 21-year-old kid called Naezy. And I couldn’t believe what  I was watching.

Zoya Akhtar

As someone who has always been drawn to the genre of hip-hop, Zoya knew instinctively that she wanted to make something on the Indian gully rap scene. From that one thought, Zoya assembled an entire team of the most talented artists from the industry.

The video is a glimpse of not just the filming process of Gully Boy but also the journey of each person who worked on the film.

“I was in tears at the end of the narration and she was also in tears [Zoya Akhtar] and she said, ‘This has never happened. I’ve never been in tears narrating my own script.’”

Alia Bhatt, Actor

More than the excellent performances, Gully Boy stood out for its unprecedented scripting. Director Zoya Akhtar and writer Reema Kagti, whose collective creative force brought the idea to life, did not work in isolation. They drew heavily from the lives of rappers Divine and Naezy. But beyond the story, there was the issue of getting the gully lingo right. In the video, Zoya talks about how they worked with several rappers to get every little detail right.

Speaking about how Ranveer prepared for his role as Murad, Zoya said:

“Ranveer had to actually morph his body and he was twice his size. And I think that must have been very hard for him to do in such a short span of time.”

Zoya Akhtar

Apart from uniquely insightful interviews with all the cast members, the video also explores the relationship between Divine and Ranveer. Divine admits that he had a gut feeling about Ranveer playing the lead character.

“I knew it from day one that he’s the only one who can pull off this character.”

Divine, Rapper

You can watch the video here: