Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; February 8, 2016)

Apoorva Lakhia’s biopic on Dawood Ibrahim’s sister, Haseena Parkar was supposed to go on floors this month, but we hear it has been put off until the year-end due to leading lady Sonakshi Sinha’s packed date diary. Earlier reports claimed production and finance issues were causing the delay. At the moment, the actress is working on two projects — Force 2 with John Abraham and A R Murugadoss’ Akira.

A source says, “Due to a clash of dates with her other projects, Sonakshi has expressed her inability to start shooting for Haseena – The Queen of Mumbai any time soon. It’s a great script and Sona has a powerful role which needs a lot of attention. She has working hard on the prep and is excited about the project.”

The source, however, explains the first schedule of the biopic was to kick off this month, but the delay in wrapping up Force 2 led her to rework her dates. “Her co-star John got injured last October and so, the action scenes are being completed only now. She will also be busy with the promotions of Akira after that. Therefore, Haseena can go on floors towards the end of 2016,” adds the insider.

Last month, the actress had tweeted, “Just an update on Haseena, am trying to work out the dates. This film is very special to me and im trying my best to clear the date clash (sic).” Confirming the story, the film’s director Apoorva Lakhia says, “The film has been delayed due to date issues.”

Haseena was one of Dawood’s two sisters and the seventh child among 12 siblings. She was known as the underworld queen and used to stay with her son and daughter in Nagpada. She passed away last year at the age of 55 after suffering a heart attack. Interestingly, Sonakshi had played Dawood’s love interest in Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai Dobaara (2013) based on the fugitive don’s life.