The character of Rehman Dakait, powerfully played by Akshaye Khanna in the film Dhurandhar, has become a social media sensation, eclipsing even the movie’s lead, Ranveer Singh. Audiences are captivated by his swagger and the now-viral line, “Rehman dakait ki di hui maut badi kasainuma hoti hai.”
However, amidst the pop-culture frenzy, a contrasting perspective has emerged from Noreen Aslam, the wife of the legendary police officer Chaudhry Aslam—the man who often confronted such criminals.
The Real Rehman Dakait: A Profile in Violence
Rehman Dakait, born in 1975 to the gangster Mohammed Dadal, was a figure of extreme brutality in Karachi. Though he lived only 34 years, his criminal career began chillingly young:
- Age 13: Committed his first documented violent crime (stabbing).
- Age 19: Murdered his own mother, allegedly over an affair, by strangling her and hanging her from a ceiling fan.
Between 2001 and 2009, he and his cousin Uzair Baloch (also portrayed in the film by Danish Pandor) ruled Karachi’s Lyari area, known for perpetrating “gruesome murders.” His reign of terror was characterized by extreme displays of power, such as ordering Baloch to play football with the severed heads of opponents. Rehman’s criminal career ended in a shootout with Karachi police during a targeted crackdown in August 2009.
Noreen Aslam: Challenging the Legend
Appearing on a Pakistani podcast, Chaudhry Aslam’s widow, Noreen Aslam, disputed the magnitude of Rehman’s influence as depicted in Dhurandhar, which is a semi-fictional spy thriller.
“Rehman is not as big a don as portrayed in the movie,” she stated firmly. “He was nothing in front of Aslam.”
She argued that while the murders he committed were public knowledge, his power was geographically limited: “He was powerful only in a specific area.” According to her, the movie significantly inflated his status beyond the confines of his local sphere of influence.
A Controversial Police Officer
The film also features a character based on Noreen’s late husband, Chaudhry Aslam—one of Pakistan’s most debated and feared police officers, who survived several assassination attempts before being killed in 2014.
Noreen Aslam expressed her delight that her husband’s favorite actor, Sanjay Dutt, was cast as the tough police officer in the film, noting, “Chaudhry liked Sanjay Dutt, and I am sure he will do justice to the role.”
However, she voiced distress over the fictional depiction of her husband, particularly the use of derogatory religious terms: “We are Muslims, and such words are disrespectful not only to Aslam but his mother,” she said, objecting to phrases like ‘son of the devil’ and ‘jinn’ used to describe him.
The success of Dhurandhar, which earned over ₹100 crore worldwide in its opening weekend, highlights the public’s fascination with the dark world of Karachi’s underworld, even as the real-life figures’ families push back against the dramatization of their stories.
