Apoorva Lakhia, the man who directed Shootout At Lokhandwala is gearing up for the release of Haseena Parkar starring Shraddha Kapoor in lead. Interestingly, Apoorva revealed that he was first approached to make a film on Dawood Ibrahim, however, he found Haseena Parkar’s story far more intriguing than the underworld don. And so, that’s how he decided to direct a biopic on the so-called ‘Queen of Mumbai.’
In an interview with us, Apoorva insists that Haseena Parkar is not a gangster film, rather it is the story of a strong female protagonist.
“It is a great script. People keep saying it is a gangster film, but in my opinion it is a film about a woman’s journey who fortunately or unfortunately is born in a certain family. It is amazing journey, and imagine this; We all say she is a gangster, but there was not a single proof against her. There were 88 cases against her, but there was no evidence against her. For a woman, who is born in a family of 12, living in a small home, who has studied till 9th standard to become Haseena Aapa is itself is amazing to describe journey. The tragedy in her life is losing everyone who was close to her. They were all killed because of the enmity her brother had created. I think, this was an interesting subject to go into. The fifth character in this story in Bombay. It would take you through the story of Bombay becoming Mumbai.” (sic)
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Bollywood films have often glorified the character of Dawood Ibrahim. When asked if there was a conscious decision to not glorify the character of the gangster in the film, Lakhia said,
“I have justified your question if you have seen the trailer or promo as there is not a single dialogue which would glorify him. In fact, I have used dialogues wherein people are blaming him for the hardships his sister has to face. We have always maintained what he has been implicated for. Obviously, I will get criticism because I even made Shootout At Lokhandwala and even that was a gangster film. So you do get stereotyped, but that wouldn’t stop me from making films that I believe in.”
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Starring Shraddha Kapoor in lead, Haseena Parkar is slated to release on September 22.
