In Dhurandhar The Revenge, celebrity trainer-turned-actor Mustafa Ahmed became Ranveer Singh aka Hamza Ali Mazari’s aide as fellow undercover agent Rizwan. Together, they took over Lyari and eliminated terrorists. After the sequel’s release, a viral scene from the film’s first part Dhurandhar, which arrived in theatres last year, went viral on social media with fans lauding director Aditya Dhar’s ‘peak detailing’. In this scene, Gaurav Gera as Aalam bhai introduces Hamza to Rizwan at his shop. They met for the first time as undercover agents but exchanged a knowing look, which netizens have now understood. In an exclusive interview with HT City, Mustafa opened up about the same. The actor also revealed how he got Rizwan’s role, after initially being onboarded to train Vicky Kaushal for Ashwatthama.
In the mid-credit scene of Dhurandhar The Revenge, audiences got to witness Ranveer Singh’s training by RAW as Jaskirat Singh Rangi. Mustafa Ahmed was also a fellow cadet in training, years before he first met Jaskirat turned Hamza in Aalam Bhai’s shop in the first film. Talking about exchanging a knowing look with Ranveer during this viral scene, Mustafa shared, “That’s my first scene in terms of dialogue for the movie. So while I was not nervous, I was very excited. I was constantly thinking that I didn’t want to give too many retakes, because I was in the scene with Ranveer Singh and Gaurav Gera sir, who plays Alam, I should be able to do justice to it. I rehearsed a lot and then on the day of it, we knew where this was going to lead. We share this look that we know each other, but we should not give it away, it has to be a subtle look. It doesn’t give you a complete hint of what’s going to happen in the second part, but it does give you this idea that there is something about the way these guys are looking at each other. I think Ranveer and my off-screen chemistry really helped.”
When asked if he received a brief from Aditya Dhar for this scene, Mustafa revealed, “No brief was given to us. From the narration we knew that the two characters were in the academy together. But in that particular time, we were not told to give any such expression. That’s the beauty of Aditya sir that he does not tell you what to do, he waits for you to do it. No instructions were given, me and Ranveer did it naturally. We did not discuss it. We knew the scene, the intensity and the backstory of it.”
Talking about his bond with Aditya, Mustafa shared, “I actually have been training a lot of artists in Aditya sir’s projects. I trained Manav Kaul, I trained Yami Gautam. I was initially hired to train Vicky for Ashwatthama, that got shelved. That’s how my relationship with him started. And then of course, over the years, I expressed to him that I was a very big fan of his work, Uri is one of my all-time favourite movies. And I asked him if there was ever an opportunity where I can maybe just even hold a gun and stand in a frame somewhere, I’d be very happy. I think he probably saw something, he saw that I probably can act. He first gave me the opportunity to work in Dhoom Dham, where I played the character of Sunny, a stripper. I think he saw that I had the potential.”
Revealing how he bagged a role in Dhurandhar, the actor said, “When he was making Dhurandhar he called me. I was already on board to train Ranveer, do his complete transformation for the role. Ranveer and I have also known each other for over eight to ten years, so then Aditya sir thought that our off-screen chemistry would look good for his bond for this character, because that’s what needed to be brought on screen. So then Aditya sir said, ‘Why don’t you go and audition?’ He didn’t tell me anything. He just told me, ‘Go and audition.’ So I went to Mukesh Chhabra’s office, gave the audition and little did I know that I would be selected to play Rizwan.”
Well, Mustafa as Rizwan has truly won hearts with Dhurandhar The Revenge.
