Who was Rehman Dakait? Gangster played by Akshaye Khanna in Dhurandhar killed mother, played football with severed heads

In Dhurandhar, Akshaye Khanna plays Rehman Dakait, a real-life Karachi gangster, who lorded over the town in the 2000s.

Dhurandhar may star Ranveer Singh in the lead, but it is Akshaye Khanna who is walking away with all the plaudits. The ensemble spy thriller features the veteran actor as Rehman Baloch, aka Rehman Dakait, one of the film’s antagonists. And while Akshaye’s performance in bringing him to life is being praised, many have pointed out that the real Rehman Dakait was even more ferocious than what we see on screen.

Akshaye Khanna plays Rehman Dakait in Dhurandhar.

Akshaye Khanna in Dhurandhar

Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar draws from real-life incidents to present a semi-fictionalised account of India’s war against terror in Pakistan. It is set in the late 2000s in Karachi’s Lyari, a hotbed of gang activity. Akshaye Khanna plays Rehman, who rules Lyari with his cousin and second-in-command, Uzair Baloch (played by Danish Pandor). Ranveer plays Hamza, a spy who infiltrates Rehman’s gang and works to dismantle it while providing Indian intelligence information about their dealings with the ISI.

Akshaye Khanna and Danish Pandor as Rehman and Uzair in Dhurandhar.

Who was Rehman Dakait?

The real Rehman Dakait, full name Sardar Abdul Rehman Baloch, was a Pakistani gangster who terrorised Lyari in the 2000s. Born in 1975, he began peddling drugs as a pre-teen in Lyari. At 13, he allegedly committed his first violent crime when he stabbed someone. According to Express Tribune, at the age of 19, Rehman murdered his own mother by strangling her and then hanging her from the ceiling fan. A key scene in Dhurandhar recreates this, albeit with some creative liberty. Rehman joined Haji Laloo’s gang in the late 90s and took over the gang’s command after Laloo’s arrest in 2001. For the next eight years, Rehman turned Lyari into his stronghold, with Uzair and their associate, Baba Ladla, as his go-to men. A Daily Guardian report claimed that Ladla and Baloch would play football with severed heads of their opponents at Rehman’s orders, as a show of strength.

Rehman was killed in a shootout with Karachi Police in August 2009 during the government’s crackdown on Lyari gangs. He was 34. His cousin Uzair took command of his gang after his death.

All about Dhurandhar

Dhurandhar also features Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, and R Madhavan in lead roles. Despite mixed reviews, the film has built a positive word of mouth among the viewers, earning ₹152 crore gross worldwide in its opening weekend.