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5 Years of Gully Boy: How Zoya Akhtar's unconventional approach to Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt's film ended up becoming her top grosser
Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in lead has completed 5 years. Here's a lookback at how the filmmaker got her top grosser outside her comfort zone.
Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in the lead has completed 5 years. The Valentine's Day special release of 2019 wasn't the typical romantic film to target couples but did extremely well because a big section of youth related to the story and characters.
What worked for Gully Boy?
When the film was announced with Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in the lead, the casting and the fact that the actor would be seen as a rapper instantly made the audience excited. Then the makers dropped their first asset which was a sneak peek of the song Asli Hip Hop featuring the actor as a rapper and it instantly took the hype to the next level.
Ranveer didn't just look pitch-perfect as the character but the way he sang the rap made the audience go crazy about it. Asli Hip Hop was everywhere in no time and everyone was just talking about it.
Before the film's release, the makers dropped several assets including promos and songs telling the audience more about Murad's world. The chemistry of Ranveer and Alia also looked so real that the youth felt connected to it. Despite the fact, that it wasn't a typical romantic film or an entertainer, it took an opening of 19.26 cr at the box office.
But the real game happened after the release of the film. After the release, the audience got two more stars and they were Siddhant Chaturvedi aka MC Sher and Vijay Varma aka Moeen Arif. While Ranveer's chemistry with Alia was one of the top highlights, Siddhant and Vijay also became the talk of the nation thanks to their strong performances and author-backed characters.
How Zoya Akhtar conquered the box office out of her comfort zone
Before Gully Boy, Zoya Akhtar made films like Luck By Chance, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, and Dil Dhadakne Do which were appreciated by the class audience but were always criticized by the masses for only talking about the first world problems. With Gully Boy, she decided to show her versatility as a director and nailed it. Interestingly, the film went on to become the top grosser of Zoya as a director and also became her first 100 cr grosser.
Zoya set the film in one of the most underprivileged areas of Mumbai and along with Reema Kagti (co-writer) created a world that was as authentic as it could get. From the performances to the presentation, it was like Zoya personally knows every character of the film and understands their life.
The dialogues of Vijay Maurya also hit the bull's eye. There were so many memes that were made on the dialogues delivered by Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh. "Mere boyfriend se gulu gulu karegi to dhoptungi hi na usko", "Bahut badi gundi hai tu?", "Tere ko jo karne ka hai tu kar" being some of them.
Gully Boy team in the last 5 years
After Gully Boy, Zoya Akhtar has worked on Netflix projects like Ghost Stories and The Archies. She has also worked as a writer on the Netflix film Kho Gaye Hum Kahan which starred Siddhant Chaturvedi as one of the leads.
Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt recently worked together in Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani which proved to be a success at the box office. Alia Bhatt and Vijay Varma also worked together in Netflix film Darlings.
Ranveer has been a part of a series of films like Sooryavanshi, '83, Jayeshbhai Jordaar, and Cirkus. He will be next seen in Singham Again and Don 3.
Alia Bhatt has featured in films like Kalank, Sadak 2, Gangubai Kathiawadi, RRR, and Brahmastra Part One. She also made her debut in American films with Heart of Stone also starring Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan.
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