`Gunday`: Kolkata`s political turbulence justifies the characters, says Ali Abbas Zafar

Kolkata: Bollywood director Ali Abbas Zafar, of ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ fame, says the politically turbulent nature of Kolkata will help audiences to understand the characters and story of his next venture ‘Gunday’ better.

"It`s quite a politically turbulent city and once you see the film you will understand why these characters take birth in Kolkata and go on their journey, " Zafar said at a media conference here Tuesday. The director is in the city to shoot ‘Gunday’, an action-drama cum romance starring Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra in lead roles, set in the eastern metropolis. "The film is set between 1971 to 1988, in Kolkata. I believe that every story needs a soil and that every story has a certain political, social requirement. And the story we are making required certain kind of set up and Kolkata is the place I decided to set the film in," said Zafar. ‘Gunday’ produced by Aditya Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner, is a story of two thieves Bickram (Ranveer Singh) and Bala (Arjun Kapoor) who later enter the mafia. "It is a fictional story but it is based on lot of real events that happened between 1971 and 1988. It is a story of Bikram and Bala who start from being small-time wagon breakers and how with time they become black marketing mafias. While writing the script I very consciously took a decision to base it in Kolkata," said Zafar about the film slated for a release later this year. According to Zafar, although ‘Gunday’ is set in Kolkata and the characters are Bengali, sticking to Hindi was a conscious decision. "It is set in Kolkata but its soul raises a question for the whole of the country. "If you try to push the language too much and if you are not too comfortable, it sounds a bit of mockery and sounds a little superficial and I don`t want to do that. And very consciously we took a decision to stick to one language and that is Hindi," said Zafar, who termed the city fascinating. IANS