If John Abraham, the Bollywood actor and producer who next plays the real-life Mumbai gangster Manya Surve, chooses his roles carefully, it's because he doesn't want his fans getting too familiar with him playing a particular type of role.
At a press conference gathering the stars of Shootout at Wadala, which opens across the UAE on Thursday, Abraham explains he balances out thrillers involving lots of action and stunts with lighter-hearted films.
As for the role of Surve, who in the film is a layered character with a softer side, he wanted to give audiences something they had never seen him do before. "When you see the film, you will realise how well we have managed to round out the character of Manya Surve," he explains. "We have not tried to glorify a gangster at all, and neither have we shown him to be totally ruthless and heartless. In the film, you will also learn about his heartbreaking love story. There are so many dimensions to this character."
The mafia has long been a popular theme for Bollywood, going back to the 1978 Amitabh Bachahn starrer Don.
Shootout at Wadala, a prequel to the 1997 film Shootout at Lokhandwala, is based on a book by a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in crime and investigative reporting. S Hussain Zaidi's Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia, was published last year.
Director Sanjay Gupta, who gathered Abraham, Kangna Ranaut, Anil Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor and Sonu Sood in lead roles, offers a dramatic retelling of an actual encounter that took place in Mumbai in 1982 between Surve and Mumbai police. Kangana Ranaut plays Vidya, Abraham's love interest in the film.
Both actors looked so good together on screen that the director added a rare intimate scene in the film, but Abraham defends the controversial move as being necessary for the story.
It was important to both actors, who had done such scenes before, that its inclusion be based on more than just an attempt to draw more people to the theatre.
"The scene was shot on a closed set and was executed very professionally," says Abraham.
Abraham has nothing but praise for his female co-stars Sophie Chaudhry and Sunny Leone.
"Sophie and Sunny have both performed extremely well and there will be no shortage or work for them after this film," he says, smiling at Leone.
"It has been unbelievable working with John and everyone else for this film," says Leone. "These are people that I used to see on the screen, and now here I am right beside them. It's like a dream come true. However, I do realise that this is just the beginning and there is a long way for me to go."
The Indian-Canadian Leone is a recent import to Bollywood. Since making her Bollywood debut last year in Jism 2, she moved her base from Canada to India, setting up home in Mumbai.
It has not been easy, she explains.
"I am not just learning the ropes of and making a place for myself in a new industry," she says, "but I am also coming to terms with a whole new country, its people and their lifestyles."
Leone, however, has been slowly but surely growing more comfortable speaking exclusively in Hindi, helped along through chatting with her domestic staff, who don't speak any English.
"It is going to take a lot of hard work. It's not that easy to make a name for yourself in Bollywood. But when you work with people like these, everything becomes so much easier. Everyone has been so patient with me and I have learnt so much on the sets of Shootout at Wadala."
Shootout in Wadala will be released in theatres across the UAE on Thursday
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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