Filmmaker Anand Kumar has exclusively confirmed to us about working on a project based on the life of conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar. Kumar, who recently met Deepak Sharma, ASP, Tihar Jail, says, “The project is in a nascent phase. It was my first meeting with Sharma; depending on the kind of research and information that we gather, I’ll decide whether this project will be a movie or web series. My writers will be in Delhi next month and try to get in touch with the investigating team.”

Kumar doesn’t want to term this project as a biopic although it will be based on Chandrasekhar and will include his personal life, cheating and money laundering cases as well as the link-ups with actors Jacqueline Fernandes and Nora Fatehi. “Biopics mahaan logon ki banti hain. He’s a conman; mujhe usko amar nahin karna,” mentions the Zila Ghaziabad (2013) director.

Talking about the intriguing factor that pushed him towards this story, Kumar shares, “Sukesh knows 10-12 languages and maybe more. His style of conning people is unique. I want to explore how he used to create networks and pull such frauds. I want to show how he was a mastermind; he would plan a scam for almost a year before executing it! Such personalities have never been explored before [in Indian cinema].”

The research has been on for the last six months. Ask him if he has thought of meeting the conman himself for research and he says, “I haven’t thought about it, but agar woh nahin bhi batayega [about his story] toh sikke ka doosra pehlu bhi hai mere paas. I can reach out to the people he has conned.”

In addition, ASP Deepak Sharma tells us, “Anand ji wanted to understand how Sukesh looks, behaves, what he likes to do and how he dresses up, etc.”