Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; May 26, 2017)

Sanjay Dutt is being careful about his film choices. After release from jail last year, the actor refused two projects before zeroing in on his comeback venture, Bhoomi, filmmaker Omung Kumar’s father-daughter relationship saga. His second project was supposed to be director Girish Malik’s action flick, Torbaaz, produced by Rahul Mittra. It was announced last September. Dutt had also recorded a track for it and was to start shooting for it after Bhoomi’s wrap-up.

But, on Monday, it was announced that the actor’s next would be Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3, also produced by Mittra. The film goes on floors in August. Sources say Dutt opted for Dhulia’s film because he felt a critically acclaimed franchise was a better choice.

Mittra, however, says the idea of the next instalment in the Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster franchise cropped up as Torbaaz was a large-scale production and needed more time. “We are still working on the logistics. It needs a long spell of shooting overseas. It will be shot in Georgia. Since Sanju had time before promotions for Bhoomi, we decided to go ahead with Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3. Torbaaz will happen later this year. It was a sudden decision, but Sanju tells me some of his most memorable films like Vaastav (1999) and Kaante (2002) were also planned in a similar way,” says Mittra.

In February last year [after his release from Pune’s Yerwada jail], director Siddharth Anand’s untitled action thriller was announced as Dutt’s comeback venture. However, the film didn’t take off because the 57-year-old felt it was a mish- mash of Hollywood actioners. He then green-lighted Marco Bhau, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s sister, Shelly Chopra’s directorial debut, but the project went into cold storage, as the script needed to be reworked. Dutt finally took up Bhoomi.