'Maalik' Director Pulkit on Rajkummar Rao's Chilling Shot in the Trailer and Pumping '8000 Bullets a Day' On Set

At the end of Maalik's trailer, Rajkummar Rao shocks everyone. The actor, who sinks into every part with a gentle screen presence, dials up the intensity of playing a gangster in the film, his eyes blazing with rage as he pulls a rope to hang four men. It's a chilling shot, which director Pulkit reveals was actually never in the script.

Playing a gangster in Allahabad of the 1980s, Rao has completely switched gears for the film, which features him in a rugged look, battling for power.

Ahead of the film's release on July 11, Pulkit talks to The Hollywood Reporter India about why he chose Rao for the role, his decision to refrain from watching classic gangster films like Satya (1998) and Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), the style he envisioned for Maalik, and the number of guns on set.

Edited excerpts:

Let's talk about the last scene in the trailer, where Rajkummar is pulling those men. It was shocking, coming from someone like him...

Yes, totally. There's a lot of story behind that scene. We were supposed to shoot something else that day, but when I went on set, I realised that the scene would not look good, so I wanted to try something new and informed Raj. Both of us improvise a lot! When he came on the set, I told him, 'Let's hang these four people!' He asked, 'But will it look good? Ok, let's try it!' And obviously, you can see a lot of emotions on his face while he's pulling the rope. Raj did that in one take, and I didn't have any other safety takes! He did it so well that I thought, let it be, we're done for the day!

How did you think of Rajkummar for an action-gangster film, though?

I had worked with him on Bose Dead/Alive, and I feel that I didn't do it well. I was just 26 back then, and I could have done much better. But I saw Raj as an actor, and how he would go above and beyond what is expected. I always thought I needed to do one more film with him. If you were in the 90s writing Maalik, the obvious choice would have been a Sanjay Dutt, but that's expected and hence not exciting. But Rajkumar pulling a rope with four people hanging is something no one expected him to do. That's a proper surprise.

When he's in front of the camera, I don't even say "cut" because the performance will continue. Like in the teaser, there's a shot at the end where he's standing on the wall and peeing. That wasn't even in the script! No one could have designed it. The camera was rolling, and he just stood on the wall and improvised. That's what happens when you have Rajkummar.

Where does the title come from?

From my grandfather! I was born in Bihar, and he was a landlord and a teacher in a government school. We had pockets of land where other people used to work. So, whenever I would walk with him towards the field, people would call him 'Maalik Ji'. That fascinated me because even if someone had to speak ill of my grandfather, they would do it, retaining the respect of 'Maalik Ji'! You don't associate disrespect with Maalik! I wrote the film with Jyotsna, and the core vision was to explore the idea of power, not only political and social, but also power within the relationship dynamics, power within the self and how far one can go to claim that.

There have been landmark titles in this space, from Satya to Gangs of Wasseypur, and even a Mirzapur on streaming, which was a huge success. Were you conscious of what people had done before to make Maalik look different?

There was no conscious effort as gangster films have always been made, there was also an Agneepath (1990) if you go back in time. If I consciously attempt to make something different, then chances are that I will ruin it. All the films you mentioned were still different because the directors had their stamp, their voice. Now, this is my first time in the genre, which would naturally lead to something new. The only thing I did when I started writing Maalik was not watch any of these gangster films so that I wouldn't get influenced by their action or style. Also, it is a small industry. When you arrive on set, you will realise that the crew has probably worked on Gangs of Wasseypur and Mirzapur! So you need to refrain.

But the film also comes at a time when the audience has seen so many action films. How do you then reinvent the grammar?

When I was briefing my team, I never told them that I had to create something that people hadn't seen before. I wanted to create something that I haven't done before. There's a shot in the trailer where every person is standing on the door and firing. That's something I really wanted to do. When I was writing, I envisioned it exactly like that. The clarity of thought was there, and luckily, my DOP and production designer came together really well.

How many guns were there on set?

We had more than 700 guns on the set! We had a truck full of guns, and there were days when we had fired almost 800 bullets while shooting! It was crazy!