A pleasant surprise from Farhan Akhtar

Audiences this week were surprised to see Farhan Akhtar playing  a Dawood-like gangster in the Arjun Rampal-starrer Daddy.

Farhan’s  appearance in the film was a well-kept secret. He says, “It was planned as a very quiet appearance and wasn’t to be publicised at all. It was just four to five scenes and we wanted to keep it completely low-profile,” says the actor. Opening up about his character, Farhan shares how he played the role. “I played him as very detached character. Even when he is giving orders to his associates and subordinates he does in a tone of complete neutrality. As if he was beyond caring.”

Farhan adds that he left the detailing and execution of the character entirely to director Ashim Ahluwalia. “Ashim did all the research on Dawood; I  just went by his vision. Right now, I don’t know how my role and the film have shaped up because I haven’t seen Daddy yet since I’ve been too busy promoting my own film, Lucknow Central.”

Farhan is bowled  over by his Rock On co-star Arjun Rampal’s commitment to  playing Arun Gawli. “He was completely into it. He submerged himself totally in the character. When Arjun asked me to join him in the film I felt he genuinely felt I could play the character.”