After a long time, the larger-than-life Shah Rukh Khan will be seen playing a man from the slums in his next film Raees. The film deals with the issue of prohibition in Gujarat and will see SRK sporting a peculiar accent to suit the role of a man from an Ahmedabad slum.
Rahul Dholakia, whose last film Parzania won the National Award in 2002, will direct the film, for which he has already laid out sprawling sets to resemble locales of Ahemadabad.
About SRK’s character, Dholakia said, “It started off as a real-life person. But as we re-wrote several drafts of the script, the character became more and more fictional.”
Since Parzania touched upon the topic of 2002 Gujarat riots, it wasn’t very well received in the state. But that isn’t why Dholakia has refrained from putting up a set in Gujarat.
He explains, “It’s very practical and logical to not take Shah Rukh into the crowds. He is a star with a mammoth following everywhere — Gujarat too. To shoot with him on the streets in Ahmedabad is not only impractical, but probably suicidal. I remember when we were shooting with Sanjay Dutt in Kashmir for Lamha. Huge crowds would gather and obstruct the shooting.”
