A story about cricket is bound to grab eyeballs. So, one can only imagine the interest when it involves a cricket con. Even as Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba is being readied for an OTT release, director Jayprad Desai has moved on to his next. The yet-untitled movie will offer a retelling of the fake Indian Premier League (IPL) scam in 2022.

Weeks after the IPL 2022 edition concluded, a group of unemployed youth in Molipur village in Gujarat staged a fake tournament to attract gamblers. With a group of labourers masquerading as players, stand-ins for umpires and a Harsha Bhogle mimic offering commentary, the group streamed matches on YouTube for two weeks. They managed to dupe some Russians—located in Tver, Voronezh and Moscow—who would bet on the matches. The fake tournament played out till the quarter-final before the group was caught by the cops.

A source says, “The film is inspired by Faraz Ahsan’s book, First Copy. In addition, Jayprad and his writers Hussain and Abbas Dalal have researched extensively to develop the screenplay.” The cast and locations will be finalized in the coming weeks. A chunk of the movie will be shot in Mumbai and Gujarat.

They held hands and walked away into the sunset. That is where Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey’s thriller Haseen Dillruba (2021), directed by Vinil Mathew, ended. Since then, talk of a sequel has been making the rounds. Writer-producer Kanika Dhillon and producer Anand L Rai let the cat out of the bag when, in an exchange of tweets, they announced Phir Aayi Haseen Dillruba, with new addition Sunny Kaushal in the mix, in January.

Thrilled to be part of the thriller genre that he grew up reading about in novels, Kaushal says, “[I have] read those murder mysteries and [would often] get excited about their world and characters. Now, I am getting to play such a character. It’s fantastic and such a new experience for me. It is lovely to share screen space with Vikrant and Taapsee.”

Kaushal, who received a call from Dhillon for the role, was thrilled to join the cast. “Haseen Dilruba was a proper pulpy thriller. To be a part of that world is amazing,” he says. Taking the baton from Mathew for the sequel is director Jayprad Desai.

Massey, whose performance in the first part was unanimously loved, cannot stop gushing about how the sequel is shaping up. “We are done with our outdoor stint after a month and a half of shooting. I got back to [Mumbai] to promote Gaslight,” says Massey, whose Disney+ Hotstar film, also starring Sara Ali Khan and Chitrangda Singh, has just aired on the streaming platform.

Talking about Desai, who is known for “the beautiful film Kaun Pravin Tambe”, he says, “It is exciting to work with him. [I had fun] getting back together with Taapsee, and now we have Sunny with us too. The film is crazier, edgier, and pulpier than before. The audience loved watching us in the first part, and I am hopeful they will love us again.”