Arun Gawli's wife and daughters get candid about 'Daddy'

Geeta Asha and Yogita Gawli at their Dagdi Chawl residence PicBipin KokateAsha Gawli was pregnant with her eldest daughter when her husband Arun was arrested in 1984 for serious offences including extortion and attempted murder Arun was a part of Dawood Ibrahims gang then Dawood was away in Dubai and Arun was busy attending to the crime lords dealings in Mumbai Arun was released threeandahalf years later from Arthur Road Jail having missed the birth and the infancy of his daughter Geeta That was neither the first nor the last arrest for Arun who has so far earned a list of monikers mdash a mafia don a convicted criminal a contract killer a politician and most popularly DaddyWhen he was arrested I had no clue what had happened I was left stranded mdash neither here nor there says Asha 48 Prettily dressed in a crocheted lace blouse and a sky blue saree she is seated at one end of a sofa in the living room of their expansive third floor flat at Dagdi Chawl Byculla Though the paraphernalia of most middleclass homes is strewn about the apartment there is the definite air of a darbar hall Beside her are daughters Geeta and Yogita She continues This happened when I lived in Dombivli before our marriage I hadnt heard from him for a month So I came to Dagdi Chawl to enquire and some boy told me that he had been arrested Still confused Asha took the local train back home where for a split second she thought it was best to leap off it She was stopped by a woman from her neighbourhood who went on to assuage her fears over the next few daysAlso read Arjun Rampal Arun Gawli felt certain situations werent correctly depicted in DaddyThirtyfive years of marriage to Arun and his numerous arrests have made Asha a stronger wife She now looks forward to Ganesh Utsav festivities in early September when Arun will be out on parole from Nagpur Central Jail Since 2012 he has been serving a life sentence for the 2008 murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar And it is also the parole date for which the release of Daddy the muchanticipated film based on Arun and directed by Ashim Ahluwalia was pushed on Geetas request from July 21 to September 8Growing up with DaddyVery filmy is how Asha puts it She is referring to Ahluwalias film her life with Arun has been less dhakdhak in her opinion The gore the violence and the murders that Ahluwalia has chosen to depict is not how she remembers it These were tales of her husband and the gangwars that she has heard of secondhand stories and retellings All that happened elsewhere away from Dagdi Chawl Not here she explainsAshim wanted to show multiple points of view such as the polices Perhaps thats why we think it looks sensational at times says Geeta 33 It may be exaggerated but the films essence is our dads life counters Yogita 28The family is familiar with Ahluwalias narrative Before the release dates were announced the director privately screened the film for Arun a routine that doubledup as both to verify facts and to secure an approval Revealing just the most permissible level of excitement over actor Arjun Rampal playing the role of Arun the sisters say that their childhood was spent searching for their father Once we were about 10 or so we started exploring what people thought about our father mdash how did the world see Daddy says YogitaAlso read Daddy gets postponed again will now release on September 8Having studied in convent schools and leading colleges in the city if Geeta and Yogita and their siblings Mahesh Yogesh and Asmita ever faced the odd remark about their gangster father then it is not a story they wish to share They describe their childhood as normal and speak of their affable friendships Surely there must have been a classmate or teacher who shuddered at the sound of their surname Yogita dismisses it There were some who wondered about it and asked us but on the whole no one ever made a derogatory remark says Yogita who runs her NGO Kara Foundation She adds Our mother didnt allow us to socialise for she didnt think it was very safe It was school home and tuitions We werent even allowed to play in the chawl premisesThe mothers fear was reasonably founded Back in the day the Gawli home was inevitably a tense environment The house was rumoured to have had secret hideouts for Arun to escape from police raids and threats from opposing gangs Asha denies these rumours but confirms one mdash the time when the police discovered Arun hiding under a bed But that wasnt here It was in the opposite chawl she clarifiesStanding by a window that overlooks that house Yogita wistfully says that she wishes she could visit her ancestral village in central Madhya Pradesh My fathers family belongs to the Yaduvanshi sect They are known as followers of Krishna and were goatherds or cowherds she explains Gawlis father Gulabrao who had migrated to Mumbai in the 1950s in search of better fortunes worked at the mills while Arun as a child supplied milk mdash a job that was seen as a natural extension of his caste and his surname Yogita hesitatingly adds I am not sure if they spoke Marathi earlier they speak the language fluently now because of their association with MumbaiFrom left Yogita Asha Arun Yogesh Mahesh Geeta circa the late 1990sIn his footstepsAmong the Gawli siblings it is Geeta who has emerged as the new face of the powerful family Often seen wearing mirrored sunglasses these days Geeta currently heads the civic health committee She is a threetime corporator contesting through Akhil Bharatiya Sena ABS the party that Arun founded in 1997Geeta debuted in politics soon after she was asked by Arun to contest in the 2007 BMC elections He just told me one day that I should stand for the elections through ABS I was fresh out of college and having hardly socialised as a child didnt know much she reminisces Her campaign strategy hinged on her fathers name and warm namaskars that she had to do as she was introduced to each personPerhaps I never gave much thought to what I wanted to do after college Dad had wanted me to be a pilot for long He asked me to enter politics and I did just that she says In 2008 Arun would be in police custody in the Jamsandekar case but his influence would extend well beyond jail Daddys wish continued to be his familys commandArun is kept company by his sons as Asha serves him a meal Pics courtesyGeeta GawliMellowing GawliWhether the film will inadvertently serve as propaganda for ABS showing a gangster turned influential politician or will it work against the party by showing its dark roots with the underworld is yet to be seen No matter what Geeta is certain it will be a big hitThe family is quick to resort to showcasing Arun as the selfless social worker but the truth about his underworld dealings is one they cannot dismiss easily In recent interviews Ahluwalia has reportedly painted the dreaded don of Dagdi Chawl as an accidental gangster When we ask the family if Aruns ties with gangs was in fact an outcome of his financial status and the closing down of the mills in the 1980s Asha denies it vociferously If money was the agenda and getting rich was the objective then my husband would have done that by now He wouldnt be behind bars This had nothing to do with his financial background He is there because he was loyal to his friends He committed crimes for the sake of friendship she saysAlso read Arun Gawli inspires Arjun Rampal to writeGeeta argues that the terms gangster and don are a conjuring by the media Contradictorily she recognises that the days of gangwars have come to an end Referring to the jungleraaj of the past she says that those were the times when every area had a gang It was almost a profession she smiles wryly Eager to steer ahead with the course of politics and gain support through an electoral system Geeta is astutely weaning the Gawli name away from the underworld and bent on forging a new association through ABSThis is even evident from Dagdi Chawl often described as an impenetrable fortress with a sixlevel security screening These days its far more accessible its silver gates open to the public Rather than trapdoors there is a vast room in the Gawli home dedicated to Krishna There is even a cradle there for the child god Dagdi Chawl gains its formidable and infamous reputation from a past and its most popular residents but its barriers are now downA production still from Ashim Ahluwalias film Daddy starring Arjun Rampal in pic as Arun GawliThe other storyNevertheless the division between the Gawli home and the Gawli gang is hardly a strict one as police and experts will testify Far from being the docile mother Asha is revered and feared in the community and is called Mummy Daddys counterpart She has been his campaign manager when he won the assembly elections in 2004 and also his aide in certain criminal offences In the last 30 years every time Arun has been arrested Asha says she has managed to have a car follow the police just to make sure that her husband doesnt get killed in an encounterDaddy the film she says plays up their romance Born Zubeida Mujawar she embraced Hinduism after she married Arun Their life as newlyweds was spent in the company of Aruns henchmen and gang members she recalls the time when Arun and she went on a pilgrimage to Jejuri and Kolhapur with about 15 gang members in tow Before we got married I used to see him in Dagdi Chawl but we would hardly speak It was one of those things mdash we knew we were in love and didnt need many words to communicate it The movie on the other hand makes it more obvious she laughs When we ask her if she was ever frightened by the highrisk life that Arun led she replies Never There was never any fear There is only loveWith her husband so often in jail it meant that she was the bad cop in the family Arun got limited time to spend with his children and he didnt want to squander that by scolding and disciplining themGeeta and Yogita agree In an attempt to discover more about the film we ask them if their childhood features in it Geeta with a quick wave of her hand says No no It is all about his life with the gangs You cant show everything in a film But the sisters know that a Daddy for the masses and a dad at home is too much to ask of one man and one filmRelated photo story Throwback Thursday Arun Gawli the original Daddy of Mumbai