Rishi Kapoor not playing Dawood Ibrahim in D-Day, says director

Filmmaker Nikhil Advani has clarified that veteran actor Rishi Kapoor's
character in his forthcoming film D-Day is not modelled on underworld don Dawood
Ibrahim.

"I completely deny that Rishi ji is playing Dawood. He plays an
exiled crimelord
named Iqbal. If there are similarities to
Dawood, it can't be helped. All art
basically needs to borrow from real-life
headlines. It doesn't mean we are making
a feature film on any specific person," said Advani.

A recent report based on Rishi Kapoor's
interview to a daily claimed the actor
plays Dawood in the film.

The interview triggered a panic attack
among the film's team that is now
frantically trying to complete the post-
production while avoiding trouble from
crime syndicates.

One hears that members of the cast,
including Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Rampal and
Irrfan, were summoned a few days back
to re-dub some of their more controversial
lines.

"Why is so much being made out of one
character's resemblance to someone we
all know? I'm being asked how a director
of such emotional films as Kal Ho Naa Ho, Salaam-e-Ishq and Patiala
House can handle an action film.

"But there is so much more to D-Day than the action involving the
extrication of a
wanted criminal from Karachi. The drama
and emotions are the mainstay, not just
the action scenes," said Advani.

The director admits that the cast was
called to do some additional dubbing but
said: "The film is in live sync-sound. We
have to dub some of the lines because the
dialogues were drowned in action. That's
all."