Producer-director Sameer Hanchate's debut film 'Gafla', a film inspired by the much-publicized scam in the Indian Stock market, has been selected for The Times BFI 50th London Film Festival 2006 to be held in London from October 18 to November 2.
The film is also being released all over India this week (October 6).
An erstwhile assistant to Subhash Ghai, Hanchate had done a lot of research on the subject before embarking on this Rs 30 million (Rs. 3 crore) film project.
Made under the banner of Metropolis Multimedia Company, 'Gafla' is inspired by the much publicized boom and bust scams on the Mumbai stock market. It examines the ethics and morality of this Machiavellian world defined by its winners and losers.
Vinod Sharawat plays Subodh Mehta (inspired by Big Bull Harshad Mehta). He is a bright young player with a dream of making it big. Early wins fuel his ambition and he is faced with a choice of following a secondary career dominated by big players or becoming one himself. Through a series of fast moves and supported by a crack team and ordinary investors he becomes the most dazzling player of them all. However, old money, with its political and institutional backing, is at his heels and is determined to punish him for the audacity of his dreams.
Elaborating on his role, Vinod Sharawat says, "I play the big bull. My character is inspired by Harshad Mehta's scams and his life from the rags to riches story. 'Vinod Sharawat, who worked with Barry Jones in Delhi, played a cameo role in 'Zubeida'; he played Karisma Kapoor's husband. Besides, he hosted super-hit show 'Kanyadan' on Sony TV, action series 'Josh' on Star TV and 'Bluff Master', a game show on Star One.
He also acted in the English film 'Let's Enjoy', produced by Rajiv Shah. Besides Vinod Sharawat, the film also features Shruti Ulfat, who plays a journalist, Purva Parag, Vikram Gokhale in lead roles. It has music by Kartik Shah.