Naezy is glad that Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy is bringing rap, which has become a subculture unto its own in the past few years, into the mainstream. While the drama — loosely inspired by Divine and Naezy — sees Ranveer Singh as a street rapper, the artiste clarifies at the outset that the film is not a biopic.

"If you pick up any rapper in Mumbai, our struggles are similar. There are certain instances that have been taken from my life, but some parts have been fictionalised too," says Naved Shaikh, who burst on to the rap scene in 2014 as Naezy.