Divine values relationships: ‘Gully Life…’ director

By Arundhuti Banerjee

Mumbai, July 7 (IANS) Filmmaker Akshat Gupt, who has helmed the documentary "Gully Life: The Story of Divine", which is based on the life of rapper Vivian Fernandes, says the rap artiste values his relationship with his mother and childhood friend a lot.

Praising Divine for not forgetting his roots after getting famous, Akshat told IANS: "Success did not change his thought process to crave for more and his relationship with his people.

"Now that he has money, he could have splurged it on anything, but he still stays in J.B. Nagar. His single goal in initial days was to bring his mother back from abroad where she used to work. He still hangs out with his childhood friends... He values relationship."

Earlier this year in February, director Zoya Akhtar came out with the film "Gully Boy" which was inspired by Divine's life.

Sharing how his documentary "Gully Life: The Story of Divine" is different from Akhtar's movie, Akshat said: "It is true that before I made the documentary, there was a lot of content out there on Divine in the form of interviews, write-ups and then also the film came. But, the film was a work of fiction.

"My film is mainly centred around Divine and his emotional drive; which is music and his strong bond with his mother."

The documentary was shot over 15 months, which showcases the minute details of Divine's life including his relationship with his alcoholic father, his yearning for his mother and his relationship with childhood friends.

"We have interviewed his mother who came in front of the camera and talked at a length for the first time. Divine is the face who brought the hip hop movement in limelight in last few years," Akshat added.

Divine began his career as an underground rapper in 2011. He has grown up rapping in the slums of Mumbai. After years of struggle, he rose to fame with the song "Mere gully mein", and with time, he carved a niche in the music industry.

The rapper also owns a production company, Gully Gang Entertainment, which functions as a record label, recruit and manage new hip-hop talent and produce content.

The 55-minute documentary "Gully Life: The Story of Divine" was aired on the Discovery Network on July 1.

Akshat also shared how Divine is now focusing on expanding his music across the globe.

"Divine's goal is changing with every step. By the time I finished the documentary, he said how he is planning to tell the story of India to the international music scene. He wants to find his space in the global map with his poetry and music.

"Now he is setting his goal to get international recognition to say like a 'Grammy Award'. It is going to be something major achievement for him. We, as filmmakers, will be waiting for that day, to explore that story..." Akshat added.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)