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Upala KBR (DNA; June 28, 2016)

Siddharth Anand’s untitled next won’t be Sanjay Dutt’s first film post-jail anymore. The project, due to roll in August has been indefinitely shelved (‘postponed’ is the official term being used). Instead, Shelly Chopra’s (Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sister) Marco Bhau, in all probability, will now be his first release. Shooting begins in August.

The producers of the Siddharth Anand film, Essel Vision Productions Limited/Zee Studios and KriArj Entertainment, continue to deny these claims, saying the film has simply been postponed. Our source reasons, “They took too long to finalise the female lead. Athiya Shetty and Kriti Sanon were offered the film, but for various reasons neither option worked out. While the official line is that scripting and production prep is taking time, the fact is there are no heroines for it as all big actresses are booked for this year and the film can’t roll without one.”

The producers have an excellent relationship with Dutt and are keen to start another project with another director in January 2017 now. Arjun N Kapoor from KriArj maintains, “A film of this level and genre needs planning and preparation of the highest level before the first day of shoot, to achieve the world standards that we want for this film.”

Akash Chawla from Zee says, “A mutual decision has been taken by everyone including Mr Dutt, the director and the producers, that since the action prep is going to need a lot of time, it is prudent to shift the film to next year.”