Forget Circuit: Arshad Warsi’s killer smile has Pratik Gandhi chasing Maharaj in Ghamasaan

Arshad Warsi turns frighteningly quiet as dacoit Maharaj while Pratik Gandhi plays a no-nonsense STF officer in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Ghamasaan.

Speaking exclusively to The Brew News, Pratik Gandhi opened up about Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Ghamasaan, his role as STF officer Aditya Singh and Warsi’s rather scary transformation into the dreaded dacoit Maharaj.

And yes, we had to start with that smile.

Early in the film, Maharaj watches a horrifying incident and responds with a slight smile. The Brew News pointed out that Warsi pretty much establishes his character right there.

Gandhi agreed: “That smile sets up the story ahead. It sets the entire tone.”

Not bad for the man most of us still expect to say, “Bhai!”

Pratik Gandhi’s cop has no Superman cape

If Maharaj is frighteningly quiet, Gandhi’s Aditya Singh is deliberately low on Bollywood-style heroics.

The brief from Dhulia was clear: don’t make him larger than life.

“He is not the kind of police officer who goes inside, blows things up, picks someone up and throws him,” Gandhi explained. Instead, the film tries to show police and STF operations realistically.

So, no single cop beating up 25 men while his sunglasses remain perfectly in place.

Aditya’s courage, Gandhi says, is more internal, something that needs to come through his eyes. He is also a man who takes his duty a little too seriously, constantly pushing beyond what is required of him.

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Arshad Warsi completes a rather funny circle

Then came one of our favourite bits of the conversation.

The Brew News reminded Gandhi that Warsi had previously played an STF chief in a story linked to gangster Shri Prakash Shukla.

Now, in Ghamasaan, Warsi is on the other side, playing the outlaw being hunted by an STF officer.

“Full circle completed,” we joked.

Gandhi laughed.

Bollywood career progression can apparently be complicated: first hunt the gangster, then become the gangster.

Not another Chambal dacoit story

Ghamasaan also moves away from Bollywood’s familiar Chambal territory and heads into the Chitrakoot-Bundelkhand region.

Gandhi told The Brew News that the film isn’t based on one particular dacoit. Instead, its world draws from several gangs and real incidents associated with the region.

For Gandhi, that was part of the attraction.

“It is not that old a story,” he said, adding that discovering how recently this world had existed fascinated him. And if someone was going to tell it realistically, he felt Dhulia was the obvious filmmaker for the job.

The film also explores how caste, politics and the system itself interacted with these gangs giving younger viewers who have never heard stories about dacoits an introduction to a very different India.

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And yes, Odomos gets a cameo of sorts

Perhaps nothing screams realism quite like… mosquito repellent.

During our conversation, we laughed about a tiny period detail in the film involving Odomos, something younger viewers may barely recognise but which instantly takes an older generation back in time.

Gandhi loved those details because they make you think: “I know this world. I was a part of it.”

Guns, dacoits, STF operations, caste politics… and Odomos.

Tigmanshu Dhulia clearly came prepared.

But ultimately, Ghamasaan looks most interesting because of the men standing on opposite sides.

Arshad Warsi’s Maharaj barely needs to smile to look dangerous. Pratik Gandhi’s Aditya barely needs to punch anyone to look like a cop you shouldn’t underestimate.

And that face-off might just be where the real ghamasaan begins.