RR Patil haazir ho!

A new Bollywood film titled World Cupp 2011 is mired in controversy for claiming to trace the life of Padma Pujari, wife of gangster Ravi Pujari and is shown glorifying Maharashtra home minister RR Patil. The film apparently shows RR Patil receiving threats from Chhota Rajan.

“Yes, there is a character called RR Patil in my film (played by Sunil Soni) and it is based on true incidents. I don’t see why people are saying that I have tried to glorify him. I have tried to show that he had the guts to act against dance bars and betting rackets in Mumbai when everybody else working under him was taking bribes,” says Ravi Kapoor, the director of the film. The film, which is still to get a clearance from the Censor Board, also examines the betting racket in the city.

The film portrays the character Padma Pujari, wife of former gangster Ravi Pujari, as the “betting queen”, regularly bribing the police higher-ups in the government.

“The film is loosely based on Padma who used to handle her husband’s business while keeping a low profile in her rented house in Andheri. Padma Pujari was heavily into drinking and used to run the betting business,” says Ravi, adding that he had taken the help of Mumbai Crime Branch officials and seen FIR’s registered against Padma to recreate the character for his film.

“I researched for around two years before starting the project. I faced tremendous problems when I wanted to shoot as no well-known heroine wanted to play the real life gangster’s wife. They were all very scared, so I finally got a junior artiste to do the job for me,” he says. Interestingly, Home Minister RR Patil is unaware that a film is being made which has references to him. Sources close to the minister said no formal permission was taken before filming began.