Ali Fazal and Pankaj Tripathi's real-life inspiration for Mirzapur

Ali Fazal and Pankaj Tripathi

Ali Fazal did not have to look too far for inspiration to play a gangster in the web series, Mirzapur. He modelled the character on his Lucknow-based street-smart uncle, Rizwan, who lived a wildlife. Co-star Pankaj Tripathi's character of a drug lord is said to be inspired by gangster-turned-politician from Uttar Pradesh. The actor says this is the darkest character he has played so far; it is what the audience will love to hate in Mirzapur, which is set in the hinterlands.

Ali Fazal, who has earlier wooed the audience with his boy next door avatars dons a beefed up and muscular look for Mirzapur. Ali who hails from Uttar Pradesh underwent rigorous training for his physical transformation, however, to get into the skin of the character, Ali took a rather unusual inspiration.

Talking about the same Ali Fazal shared, "The whole changeover came from Cockfights. I used to go watch cockfights. When you see chicken, have such innocent eyes and suddenly when you see them as people bet on them and place them in the pit, their demeanour flips. The moment you scratch them, they go nuts, and that temper thing Guddu has. You can take references from Fight Clubs, Godfather etc, my references were cockfights."

With heart-pounding action, violence at an operatic scale, gangsters with sharp minds and dry humour, Mirzapur is a hinterland story that is as raw as it gets.

Mirzapur is a lawless land filled with moments of heart-pounding action where the only rules are laid by none other than Kaleen Bhaiya aka Pankaj Tripathi. The recently released trailer showcases the journey of two brothers lured by the idea of power only to get consumed by it. With heart-pounding action, violence at an operatic scale, gangsters with sharp minds and dry humour, Mirzapur is a hinterland story that is as raw as it gets, the makers say.

The thrilling and gripping crime drama stars an ensemble cast of Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Vikrant Massey, Divyendu Sharma, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shweta Tripathi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Rasika Dugal, Harshita Gaur, and Amit Sial promising a powerhouse of talent in the same frame.

Created by Karan Anshuman and Puneet Krishna, produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment, Amazon Prime Video's Mirzapur is directed by Gurmeet Singh and will start streaming from November 16th.

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