Ghanchakkar director is set to be back after three years with an edgy thriller which is likely to feature Rajkummar Rao in the lead role
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 6, 2017)



It was three years ago that his suspense comic caper, Ghanchakkar, came out, and its writer-director Raj Kumar Gupta has been missing in action ever since. But now, Mirror has learnt that Gupta who made an impact in 2008 with Hansal Mehta’s Aamir, shot on a shoestring budget in guerrilla style on the streets of Mumbai, should be back this year with another fast-paced, edgy thriller. And this time, Gupta could well rope in a namesake.

A source close to the development says, “Raj Kumar Gupta has been in talks with Rajkummar Rao for months. They have been meaning to do something interesting and if things work out, he could well play the lead. It’s the story of a girl and a boy and has all the ingredients of a taut thriller—love, drama, deceit. The film could kick off towards the middle of the year and will be shot in Mumbai and Dubai.”

In 2011, Gupta had returned to the screen with No One Called Jessica, based on the true story of the murder of model Jessica Lal and the controversial trial that followed. The film, featuring Rani Mukerjee and Vidya Balan, catapulted him into the big league. Is this also drawn from real life? “No, this one is pure fiction but it’s just as dramatic,” adds the source.

After Ghanchakkar, Gupta had been working on Section 84 which dealt with Section 84 of the IPC which states: “Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is wrong or contrary to law.”

Kareena had consented to play the protagonist, a schizophrenic who finds herself at the centre of a crime after she steps out of an asylum. In an interview to Mirror (February 3, 2015) Gupta had said, “The film is inspired by a real-life incident. We start shooting in mid-April.”

The shoot was subsequently pushed to August before Kareena opted out. It’s time for Raj Kumar Gupta to return to the ring again, and who better than another Rajkummar with whom he had earlier been planning a screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s novel, Revolution 2020, hat came out in 2011.