While underworld don Dawood Ibrahim has been a constant source of script inspiration for almost a decade, filmmakers prudently steered clear of depicting any direct resemblance.
Then, Milan Luthria made Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai in 2010. The film cast Emraan Hashmi in a role based on the don's formative years but it shied away from naming the character as Dawood. Emraan's character was called Shoaib Khan, although it left plenty of hints to underline it was actually Dawood.
A new lot of films have taken to depicting Dawood with close physical resemblance.
The thick- set hairdo, the trademark moustache and dark shades pretty much highlight all these screen Dawoods as filmmakers continue exploiting aspects of his life and his organised crime network that has come to be known as D-company, blending facts with fiction.
Notably, most films continue to avoid naming the character in question as Dawood Ibrahim.
A recent example is Sanjay Gupta's Shootout At Wadala . While the makers touted the film as being based on the real life encounter of Manya Surve and the real names of many other protagonists were retained, the character of Dawood Ibrahim ( essayed by Sonu Sood) was called Dilawar Imtiaz Haksar.
Akshay Kumar takes over from Emraan Hashmi in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Again, the sequel to Milan Luthria's 2010 hit. The change in actor notwithstanding, the name of the character remains Shoaib Khan.
At the recent launch of the first look of the film, Akshay turned out as a stylish gangster, looking dapper in a black suit with moustache and dark sunglasses in place.
Similarly, Nikhil Advani's upcoming D-Day aims at romanticising the gangster and his network through a character played by Rishi Kapoor. The veteran's character is called Goldman and is presented as a fugitive who works in the guise of a RAW agent.
While no direct reference is made by way of name, Rishi's moustache, shades and hairdo leave very little doubt as to who the character is referring to.
Hollywood gangster films don't shy away from naming real-life baddies. From Robert De Niro's portrayal of ganglord Al Capone in Brian De Palma's 1987 cult classic The Untouchables to Barry Levinson's 1991 film Bugsy , which had Warren Beatty playing mobster Bugsy Siegel, to Johnny Depp's rendition of gangster John Dillinger in Michael Mann's 2009 film Public Enemies, their researched portrayals of gangsters have always retained original names.
Bollywood still needs to muster the guts. The only memorable film that took a direct reference was Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday , based on the 1993 Mumbai blasts, where actor Vijay Maurya portrayed Dawood as Dawood.