"Expected Salman or Emraan... Got Me Instead" Danish Iqbal aka Dawood on Dhurandhar 2 reveal

As Dhurandhar: The Revenge continues its dream run at the box office and smashes record after record, conversations around the film refuse to slow down. There is praise, there is criticism, and then there is pure curiosity driving discussions every single day.

Through all of this, one thing has remained constant. The performances. Across both films, actors have delivered in ways that have kept audiences hooked, no matter which side of the debate they stand on.

But if there is one character that truly took over public imagination, it is Bade Sahab. Ever since the first part, theories exploded around his identity. Fans built their own versions, connected dots, and even convinced themselves of who it could be before the film confirmed anything.

And then came the reveal.

Actor Danish Iqbal turned out to be the face behind Dawood Ibrahim, the man audiences now associate with Bade Sahab. In an exclusive conversation with us, Danish opened up about the speculation, the pressure, and what it felt like to walk into a storm of expectations fuelled by names like Salman Khan and Emraan Hashmi.

I would see that people are expecting either Salman Khan or an Emraan Hashmi, and they would then see me (laughs), what would be their reaction then?

- Danish Iqbal aka Bade Sahab from Dhurandhar The Revenge (as told to India Forums)

Danish Iqbal said, "The end credits read 'Dawood Ibrahim - Danish Iqbal' and then after a few days, even that was removed. There was nowhere the words 'Bade Sahab' Dawood Ibrahim written anywhere. Bade Sahab was just a title given to Dawood in the movie by the people working under him as a form of respect. The script I was given, the lines were only of Dawood, there was no specific mention of Bade Sahab separately. So, everything was on Dawood. This was public speculation that Bade Sahab could actually be Dawood Ibrahim."

What followed was a wave of certainty from the audience that even he found surprising.

He further added, "I really don't know what cosmos energy calculated that people went on to become extra sure, that there is a 70-80 percent chance that Dawood Ibrahim is Bade Sahab. Then people started to have their own theories about it, and you can't really do anything about that, it people's imagination."

The pressure, however, hit differently once bigger names started being attached to the role.

Speaking about that phase, he said, "While performing the character, I didn't really have any pressure but I have to admit that the pressure that followed was quite something to deal with. Now, I would see that people are expecting either Salman Khan or an Emraan Hashmi, and they would then see me (laughs), what would be their reaction then? And obviously, I knew what my look was in the film. All filled with prosthetics and all that, so I was like if fans watch this, they would be bamboozled by what they expected and what they got instead. Audiences always make their own film in the heads and imagine things."

What truly shifted the narrative, though, was the way the reveal played out on screen.

Danish credited the staging of the moment and said, "But then there was this shocker when the camera pans wonderfully and get shocked by what they are seeing lying on a bed. That's the beauty of Aditya Dhar's direction where you see the younger Dawood's known photo and then an ailing and old Dawood on the bed. If one notices, there are these small glimpses here and there of me as Dawood early on in the film but that's quite one to witness when the camera pans so wonderfully. And this I believe, is where audiences forget everything else completely. They are able to be invested in what they are watching which is this old man, who is almost dying but controlling everything with his sheer power. And then, right away, people were most interested in watching the performance here and the character, as to what is he doing or saying, then everyone forgot about their pre-conceived notions and beliefs. And based on the reactions that have come out so far, I feel and hope as well, that they have approved."