Daayra is just a couple of days away from its theatrical release, and Meghna Gulzar has begun opening up more about her journey behind making this movie. During an interview with The Indian Express, she was asked about her two characters in Daayra, DCP Raman Kumar (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and DCP Ajooni Kohli (Kareena Kapoor Khan).
The National Award-winning filmmaker mentioned just how contrasting the two characters were, while at the same time they complemented each other well. She said, “The characters, by the time we finished writing the script, were quite opposite to each other and complemented each other in a very, very ironic way. One cannot exist without the other, and one completes the other. It is not a love story, but nevertheless, that is still the way their dynamics work.”
Meghna Gulzar dove deeply into what Kareena Kapoor Khan’s character, Ajooni, represented. She said, “I knew that I wanted Ajooni to be represented in a way that was very different from the way we have seen female police officers in films till now. I had the liberty of doing that because I was going to see her out of uniform a lot of the time. So, it gave me an opportunity to interpret a female police officer differently.”
Structuring Ajooni further helped bring light to the realization of how Kareena Kapoor Khan would fit the role. She added, “That is when Kareena’s name came into my mind. Fortunately for me, it coincided with the time when she was keen to work with me, and that is how that happened.”
Similarly, she also thought about how to choose the right actor for DCP Raman. Speaking on how important it was to make regionally neutral characters, she said, “Raman is a name you can have in North India, South India, the Northeast or East India. It was important for me to have Raman, who should not be from the Hindi film industry. That was very important for me with Daayra. And the minute I knew that, his (Prithviraj Sukumaran) name popped into my head. We have a friend in common, so I asked for a meeting, and that’s how it happened.”
Daayra is releasing in theatres on September 18, 2026.
You can watch the new promo for Daayra here:
Also Read: Take A Further Peek Into Meghna Gulzar’s World of Daayra
