Almost a year ago, Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi teased the audience with the first look of their reunion project. Since then, we’ve heard nothing more on the subject. Separate from their Munna Bhai and Circuit characters, Jail, directed by Siddhant Sachdev, is a slice-of-life comedy produced and co-written by Dutt.

“There are a lot of expectations from the Sanjay Dutt-Arshad Warsi combination after they established themselves as a hit pair in Rajkumar Hirani’s Munna Bhai franchise. Sanjay is particular about the story. The team has to be careful that it doesn’t [remind the audience] of the Munna Bhai characters,” informed a source close to the project, adding that Jail is the story of two commoners who find themselves in a precarious situation and struggle to get out of it.

Dutt began conceptualizing the story of Jail on the set of the horror comedy The Virgin Tree, which hits theatres this year. He then requested Sachdev to work on the core idea, ensuring that it looked distinct from Warsi and his previous characters. “The screenplay written by Siddhant is fantastic, [after all], he is a fan of Hirani,” the source said, adding that the film will go on floors in 2025, after Dutt and Warsi have wrapped up their prior commitments.

Sachdev informs that Jail got pushed to accommodate the shoot of The Virgin Tree, also co-produced by Dutt. “When we made the announcement, we were still writing the script; and though the pandemic was almost over, we still got affected by the last stages of it. The film industry had slowed down a bit. While I had to complete the shoot of The Virgin Tree, Sanju sir and Arshad sir had other commitments to fulfil. Jail is now in the pipeline. Once The Virgin Tree’s VFX is complete, we will begin work on Jail, including on the final writing of it,” shares the writer-director.

After working with Dutt, Sachdev is all praise for the actor. “Sanju sir has been hands-on with the writing. We had over 50 sessions on it. He is a fantastic storyteller—his ideas and nuances [pointed out] are extremely good. We have decided that even if it takes time, we have to make a good film.”