Pavail Gulatie says Deva’s climax was tweaked from the Malayalam original, Mumbai Police, as the makers wanted to ‘reimagine’ the film
(From left) Shahid Kapoor and Pavail Gulatie in Deva
The year may have just begun, but Pavail Gulatie has already fulfilled one of his teenage dreams. The actor is thrilled to have starred in Deva alongside Shahid Kapoor, whom he has been a fan of since he was a teenager. “I joined Shiamak Davar’s dance classes because I saw Shahid dancing in Ishq Vishk [2003]. [During the shoot], he became like an elder brother to me. I’d go up to him for advice; we’d also share personal stories and eat together,” he says.
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In Rosshan Andrrews’ directorial venture, Gulatie plays a cop, whose murder is investigated by Kapoor’s Dev Ambre. It took the actor some time to grasp the actioner’s huge scale. “It took me a while to [understand] that even when you are running, there has to be flair to it. The stylised filmmaking was [novel for me], and Rosshan sir is a master of that. He was the guru and I became the perfect chela,” he laughs.
Deva, the official adaptation of Andrrews’ Malayalam actioner Mumbai Police (2013), left a section of the audience disappointed with its change in climax. While in the Prithviraj Sukumaran-led original, the protagonist turns out to be gay, Deva shows Kapoor’s character as an anti-hero. “It’s subjective because I got calls, saying, ‘We loved the climax.’ Others said it was a little underwhelming. I loved the climax, where the hero is also the villain,” shares Gulatie.
The climax tweak makes one wonder if the Hindi film industry is still wary of showing its leading men gay. But he disagrees, explaining, “It’s not that the Hindi film audience or the industry isn’t ready for such characters. Rajkummar Rao played a gay cop in Badhaai Do [2022] and was loved unanimously. I think the makers wanted to reimagine the film.”
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