A still from Gully Boy (courtesy YouTube)
Highlights
- Gully Boy is Alia and Ranveer's first film together
- Ranveer plays the role of an aspiring rapper
- Alia Bhatt plays his love interest
After weeks of rapping apna time aayega, Gully Boy is finally here! Cast together by Zoya Akhtar, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt's new film hits screens on Friday and the air is heavy with anticipation for the movie. Gully Boy tracks the story of an aspiring rapper, who struggles to etch his name in the Indian rap scenario but trips at every step because of his social status. The Gully Boy, who hails from the slums of Mumbai, turns back and raps his way to the stage once he realises his struggle is his biggest inspiration. In a recent interview with PTI, Zoya said: "There are youngsters who are kind of frustrated because they are not even allowed to pursue their dreams... they have to figure out how they get by in their day-to-day life. There is a huge population that falls in this bracket and hip-hop resonates with them."
Alia Bhatt, who features as Ranveer's love interest, is a feisty medical student, who supports the Gully Boy in his climb to the top. In several interviews, Zoya Akhtar has highlighted that the film's storyline is "inspired" by the lives of Indian rappers Naezy and Divine but is strictly not based on them: "It is not a biopic on Divine and Naezy. It is a fictional story. It is inspired by them and their music. They worked with us on the script to make it authentic. There are lot of things from their life but it is not a biopic," PTI quoted her as saying.
Meanwhile, Gully Boy has generated much interest in the International circle as well with DJ Diplo giving a shout out to Ranveer for his new film and Fast And Furious actress Michelle Rodriguez tweeting about it. Gully Boy had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival recently.
However, Gully Boy had its own share of tryst with the censor board as they reportedly ordered to alter a 13-second kissing scene featuring Alia and Ranveer. In addition, a string of cuss words have been edited out while the name of an alcohol brand has been removed from the list of branding partners.
Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt also co-star with Kalki Koechlin, Vijay Raaz and Amruta Subash in Gully Boy.