Filmmaker Nikhil Advani has clarified that veteran actor Rishi Kapoor's character in the forthcoming film "D-Day" is not modelled on underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
"I completely deny that Rishiji is playing Dawood. He plays an exiled crimelord named Iqbal. If there are similarities to Dawood, it can't be helped. All art basically needs to borrow from real-life headlines. It doesn't mean we are making a feature film on any specific person," Advani said.
A recent report based on Rishi Kapoor's interview to a daily claimed the actor plays Dawood in the film.
The interview triggered a panic attack among the film's team who are now frantically trying to complete the post-production while avoiding trouble from crime syndicates.
One hears that members of the cast, including Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and Irrfan, were summoned a few days back to re-dub some of their more controversial lines.
"Why is so much being made out of one character's resemblance to someone we all know? I'm being asked how a director of such emotional films as 'Kal Ho Naa Ho', 'Salaam-e-Ishq' and 'Patiala House' can handle an action film.
"But there is so much more to 'D-Day' than the action involving the extrication of a wanted criminal from Karachi. The drama and emotions are the mainstay, not just the action scenes," said Advani.
The director admits that the cast was called to do some additional dubbing but said: "The film is in live sync-sound. We have to dub some of the lines because the dialogues were drowned in action. That's all."