Ali Fazal underground fight club's Mir?

Ali Fazal

If his physical demeanour is anything to go by, Ali Fazal has certainly put in a fair share of toil to slip into his role of a gangster in the upcoming web series, Mirzapur. The actor, we hear, is now referred to as Mir Fateh in the interiors of Banaras, and no, that isn't the name of his character in the show.

Fazal, we learn, used the pseudonym to be part of the underground fight clubs of Delhi and Bhadohi, a task he undertook to do justice to his act. A source tells mid-day, "Ali plays the role of Guddu Pandit, a gangster who is set to take over a lawless land where arms and drugs are traded. Since Ali has not essayed a grey character on screen, he immersed himself into this role. So much so that apart from going through a gruelling physical transformation, he also turned up at underground fight clubs, or 'clans'."

It was Fazal's friend who helped him discover this facet of the city, and the actor began to turn up at the fights in utmost secrecy to understand the techniques of underground fighters. "He even participated in two matches, and landed up bruised on set."

Fazal confirms the news to mid-day, adding that he wouldn't advise another actor to partake in the kind of practice that he did, for the Amazon original. "Shooting for Mirzapur has been scary, yet adventurous. But, I would not recommend this to others. To them, I'd say, 'Try acting and forget the method'." He, however, does admit that the ropes he picked up, like "saving yourself during a fight," helped him enhance his act.

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