Just because she has been missing from the screen doesn’t mean Bipasha Basu has been lying low. Nearly six years after her OTT debut with the thriller Dangerous (2020), the actor is back to work, and this time with a crime thriller helmed by Hansal Mehta. Sources inform that Basu began shooting for Mehta’s next, titled Barabanki, in Mumbai last month.

Adapted from The Barabanki Narcos: Busting India’s Most Notorious Drug Cartel, written by retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Aloke Lal, the crime thriller is set in 1984. It tells the inspiring story of how Lal led a massive opium raid operation in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district.

“The series is a gripping, real-life, first-hand account of the dismantling of powerful drug cartels by an IPS officer and his team,” informs a trade source about the series, which is co-produced by Prabhleen Kaur, known for Made in India: The Titan Story. The series also features Sunny Kaushal and Homebound star Vishal Jethwa.

While it is still unclear who plays which role, we hear the makers will also shine a light on those who assisted Lal — including his trusted staff and a network of informers, like former addicts and small-time peddlers — in his fight against the drug cartels.

Basu, who is returning to the screen after having her baby Devi in 2020, “has a powerful role”. “Bipasha has a strong connection to the protagonist. And she hasn’t worked with Hansal before,” shares the source, adding that the actor immediately gave her nod when Mehta approached her with the story, as he has been on her wish list.

“Bipasha has a certain look in the film which is different from the ones she previously sported in her movies.” And that’s all they will say.

Aloke Lal served for 37 years in public service and retired as a Director General of Police (DGP). Besides dismantling the Barabanki Narcotics Cartel, he led field operations against organised armed bandits operating in the rural belts of Shahjahanpur. He was responsible for overseeing counter-militancy operations in Uttarakhand. He detailed eight major investigations of burglary in his co-authored book, ‘On the Trail of Thugs and Thieves’.

Anubhav Sinha ko gussa kyun aata hai? When former IPS officer Aloke Lal recently posed this question to the filmmaker during a conversation about his films at the Crime Literature Festival in Dehradun, Anubhav shared an anecdote. He revealed that a senior filmmaker had recently advised him to “be less angry” and make lighter films.

He said, “I know I’m that irritating man (who points out issues). I’d love to make funny films; I’d love to not see all this (the problems in society), but I don’t know how not to see all of this. I’d love to not see it.” He later added, “If you look at my films, they all complain (about the issues in our society), and all of these films end on a note of hope.”

Discussing Article 15, Aloke Lal told Anubhav, “When I was SP Barabanki, I distinctly recall the road shown in Article 15. In fact, the scene where Ayushmann’s character joins as ASP and is clueless about the caste system – that aspect of the film resonated with me. Do you think Article 15 and your other socially relevant films have an impact on society?”

Anubhav responded, “Personally, I think that when we make such films, they have no significant impact on society. People watch a film, discuss it for a while, and then forget all about it. I don’t believe that films show a mirror to society. All that films can do is trigger a discussion.”

Anubhav shared that he has travelled a lot, and visited many countries, and found that there is no country in the world equal to India. He said, “Mujhe lagta hai ki ye duniya ka sabse behtareen mulk hai, uske baad bhi agar aap meri pichhli paanch filmein dekhein toh kaafi shikayatein hain. So I asked myself, ‘Tu shikayatein bahut karta hai.’ And then I thought that we also have complaints against our father, against our mother, against our school.”

He elaborated, “Hum Amitabh Bachchan ko dekh kar bade hue hain. Toh hum woh brooding lover hain jo ishq ka izhaar kam karte hain aur bolte hain – arey, pyaar toh hai, toh baar-baar batana kya?”

Talking about Mulk, Anubhav said, “When Mulk was being released, I said that it is a love story. It’s a love story between Hindus and Muslims – and in love stories, people fight.”