Would you rather watch a film on Dawood Ibrahim or Swami Vivekananda?
Director Vishal Bhardwaj, known for his gangster films like Maqbool and Omkara, picks Dawood, adding, "Audiences will buy tickets for a film on Dawood, not on Swami Vivekananda."
The filmmaker was speaking at the launch of S Hussain Zaidi's latest book, From Dubai to Karachi: The Dawood Saga Continues.
Also present at the event was actor Emraan Hashmi, who played Shoaib Khan, a character bassed on the fugitive gangster in Milan Luthria's Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai.
Hussain Zaidi's book follows Dawood after he flees his sanctuary in Dubai and decamps to Karachi after the March 12, 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.
"Every filmmaker has a dream to make a Godfather kind of film. Devil characters sell," Vishal added.
When Vishal was asked if he is planning to make another gangster film, he shrugs and says, "Let us wait."
So what happened to Sapna Didi, which was announced in 2018, based on Zaidi's earlier book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai?
Vishal had cast Deepika Padukone and Irrfan in it. After Irrfan's death in April 2020, the projet was shelved and Vishal stays mum about it at the book launch.
Sapna Didi, one of the most feared names in Bombay's underworld, was determined to kill Dawood after he murdered her husband Mehmood Khan.
Want to know more about the underworld? Emraan gives us a tip:
Quite a few actors have played Dawood in the movies.
"I played the younger version of Dawood in Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai," says Emraan. "I would like to tell filmmakers that if they plan to make a movie on Hussain's latest book, they don't have to go any further as I am right here."
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