Irrfan Khan: Nishikant rejected suggestion of naming ‘Madaari’ as ‘Dangal’

Actor Irrfan Khan says that he initially wanted his upcoming film ‘Madaari’ to be titled ‘Dangal’, but director Nishikant Kamat didn’t approve due to the word’s different connotation in Maharashtra.

“We were struggling with the title. And I chose the title ‘Dangal’. However, director Nishikant Kamat had an issue with it, he said ‘dangal’ in Maharashtra has a different connotation. So he was not okay with it,” Irrfan said at a promotional event for the film.

‘Dangal’ is also the title of superstar Aamir Khan’s much-anticipated Christmas release, in which he plays a wrestler. At the poster launch of the film, Aamir had clarified that ‘dangal’ in Hindi meant wrestling and that in Marathi it meant ‘riots’.

So, why ‘Madaari’? Irrfan said: “‘Madaari’ was chosen because we, as common people, and system act like a ‘jamoora’ (a player or performer) and ‘madaari’ (monkey-minder, a person who makes money by making a monkey show tricks). So when and who plays which role, that’s what we have showed in this film.”

The ‘Piku’ actor, who also ventured into Hollywood, with movies such as ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘Jurassic World’ and features alongside Tom Hanks in the 2016 adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel ‘Inferno’, says that there is a big difference while working in Bollywood and Hollywood.

“Hollywood makes films for world audience. So in their films, characters are developed with more credibility and detailing. In our industry, we take a subject, which is treated as a launching pad for hero. After that there is no connection with the subject,” he said.

“Here subject is rarely explored. However, nowadays, some new age directors are making films in a different way. They are exploring the subjects as we see in films like ‘Neerja’ or ‘Udta Punjab’. Things are changing but basically our Indian commercial cinema doesn’t bother to explore the subject,” he added.

A social-thriller, ‘Madaari’, besides Irrfan, also features Vishesh Bansal, Jimmy Sheirgill, Tushar Dalvi and Nitesh Pandey. The film is slated to release on July 22.

Inputs from IANS

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Amod Pandit

Quiet, resonant, and creative, he can be seen immersed in his own world, and puts in his heart and soul into the one passion that he has, Bollywood. His line for survival? Feel happy to be a part of it.