‘Green Flag Gangster’: Mirzapur The Movie Makers Praise Ravi Kishan’s Versatility, Reveal He ‘Even Sews Clothes’

Ravi Kishan’s character in ‘Mirzapur: The Movie’ became so popular with audiences that the filmmakers feared he could overshadow the franchise’s central characters during the climax.

In a recent interview, director Gurmeet Singh and writer Puneet Krishna, the creator of the original Mirzapur series, discussed Kishan’s portrayal of gangster Babban Babua Yadav and revealed how the character’s emotional appeal created an unexpected challenge for the team.

Kishan’s Babban is portrayed as a gangster with a softer side, particularly in his relationship with Mumtaz. His caring nature even earned him the tag of a “green flag gangster” from some viewers. “Many young girls have said that Babban is a very ‘green flag gangster’ (laughs). He’s so devoted that he even sews clothes for his Mumtaz. Forget being a gangster, how many men would do that?” Puneet Krishna said.

Krishna admitted that the character’s popularity eventually worried the filmmakers because of its potential impact on the climax. “We actually started getting scared that people will feel for him so much in that climax scene that they may stop rooting for Guddu, Bablu and Munna,” he said.

Director Gurmeet Singh revealed that the team even had to tone down one emotional death sequence because it was having too strong an impact on the overall film. “We even had to ‘water down’ her death. It was very emotional and was almost working against the film,” Singh said.

He explained that the filmmakers subsequently increased the intensity of Chandu Puncture’s death, played by Satendra Soni, to restore the balance. “We had to really amp up the Chandu Puncture death and make that feel cruel to balance it out, because people fell in love with Ravi Kishan’s character,” Singh added.

Keeping the climax engaging

Singh said another challenge was building an effective climax when audiences were already familiar with the story and knew that the franchise’s main characters could not be easily written out. “The brutal thing was we knew a lot of the audience would know the story, and we had nobody to kill off in terms of our guys (Guddu, Bablu and Munna). So, just keeping that fight engaging was the biggest challenge that I faced,” he said.

The director also admitted that the team was unsure whether a key moment involving Guddu would connect with viewers. “Also, whether that ‘Guddu getting-up’ moment would work, but it did, and the audience went mad,” Singh said.

About ‘Mirzapur: The Movie’

Mirzapur: The Movie is an action-crime thriller directed by Gurmeet Singh in his feature-film debut. Puneet Krishna has written the film, while Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar have produced it under Excel Entertainment.

Based on the popular Prime Video series, the film features Pankaj Tripathi as Kaleen Tripathi, Ali Fazal as Guddu Pandit, Divyenndu as Munna Tripathi and Jitendra Kumar as Bablu Pandit, taking over the role previously played by Vikrant Massey in the series.