Natahsa Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 25, 2017)

Mirror had earlier reported that Sanjay Dutt who had then just wrapped up Bhoomi with Omung Kumar and Sandeep Singh, was to team up with the duo again for a story of a woman CBI officer and a man looking for love. Titled Malang, the film was to kick off in December and would mark the directorial debut of short filmmaker Aarambhh Singh, who had worked on Bhoomi as an associate director.

Now, it has emerged that Dutt is no longer a part of the project post the release of Bhoomi, which failed to set the cash registers ringing at the box office.

Co-producer Omung confirmed the news to Mirror, saying, “Malang will start next year. We are looking at young actors for the lead and are already in talks with a couple of them who have shown interest.”

Prod him about the announcement with Dutt as the lead and Omung says, “We met Sanjay Dutt and learnt that his schedule is hectic, with Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 and Torbaaz. He has always supported us but since his dates were not aligning with ours, we mutually decided to let it go.”

He goes on to clarify that the film remains unaffected despite the change of guard. “The story and screenplay remains the same. We are just giving it a younger look and feel. The hero should be able to do both romance and action.”

We reached out to Sanjay but he remained unavailable for comment.