A look at what had been keeping Sanjay Dutt busy and the plans hit for a six by his medical break
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 15, 2020)

Last Tuesday, following rumours that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer, Sanjay Dutt announced that he was taking a short break from work for some medical treatment. “With your love and good wishes, I will be back soon! (sic),” he promised.

The 61-year-old actor has been among the busiest in B-Town in the last two years, with releases like Bhoomi, Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3, Kalank, Prassthanam and Panipat. He has two films releasing on OTT soon. Films like Bhuj: The Pride of India, KGF Chapter 2: Kolar Gold Fields, Shamshera and Prithviraj are work-in-progress. Mirror checks their status.

K.G.F. : Chapter 2: Kolar Gold Fields
Sanjay Dutt plays the bad man, Adheera, who takes on Yash’s Rocky in the sequel to the 2018 Kannada action film. He has some shooting left for the film which was to wrap up by April 2020 before the Coronavirus-triggered lockdown hit all plans for a six. Karthik Gowda, executive producer of KGF 2, says, “Though we’re 20 days away from completion, we have only two to three days of shoot left with him (Sanjay Dutt). It’s not a very important scene and manageable for us. But the dubbing still remains and we will do it soon. I spoke to him the other day and he is keeping well, there is nothing to worry.”

Bhuj: The Pride Of India
The true-life period drama, set against the backdrop of 1971 Indo-Pak war, Bhuj features Sanjay Dutt as Ranchordas Savabhai Rabari aka Pagi, who helps Sonakshi Sinha’s Sunderben lead a team of 300 Gujarati village women, rebuild the Bhuj airstrip overnight after it’s bombed by the enemy. This act of grit and courage helped the Indian Air Force counter the enemy attack. Ajay Devgn plays Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik, who was given the charge of getting the airstrip operational during the war. The film is almost complete, with just around 10 days of patchwork and some dubbing remaining. Sanju has completed shooting but is yet to dub for it.

Shamshera
Real life Sanju teams up with reel life Sanju, Ranbir Kapoor, in another period film, Shamshera. Set in the 19th century, it has Ranbir as a dacoit who takes on the British Raj with Sanjay in a negative role again, as Shudh Singh. The Karan Malhotra directorial has been wrapped up with only a week-long patchwork shoot remaining with Ranbir. However, while Sanju has finished shooting for this period-drama, his dubbing for the same is pending.

Prithviraj
This period drama has Akshay Kumar in the titular role, with Sanjay, too, playing a pivotal part. While some reports suggest that he plays the character of Prithviraj’s uncle, some others claim that he plays the role of Jaichand, the father of his lady love Sanyukta. The actor has shot for 10-14 days with Akshay in Jaisalmer. The shoot was halted mid-way in March in the wake of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. The team is expected to resume work by November in Mumbai. The film also marks the acting debut of Manushi Chhillar.

Projects yet to take off
In an interview with Mirror last year (September 10, 2019) Sanjay and wife Maanayata had revealed some home productions, including a Sanjay Puran Singh directorial, titled Pandit Galli Ka Ali. He was to team up with Rishi Kapoor with whom he had worked in many films. The veteran actor passed away this year on April 30. He was diagnosed with leukemia in 2018.

There’s also a horror comedy, Virgin Tree, directed by ad-filmmaker Siddhant. “It has Sanju play a virgin baba,” Maanayata had informed.

The actor was also supposed to reunite with his Circuit, Arshad Warsi. The film in question was not Munnabhai 3 which has been in the news for years now, but a comedy revolving around a blind don and his eyes. There’s no clarity on when the Munna Bhai franchise will get going again, though the script is supposed to be locked.

He is also said to be doing a film titled Doghouse with Samir Karnik. It’s a comedy set in Punjab.

Maker of Kannada film KGF reacts in the wake of a stay order on its release from Bangalore City Civil Court; refuses to react to rumours
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 21, 2018)

Yash and Srinidhi Shetty’s action-packed KGF: Kolar Gold Fields, hyped as the biggest Kannada film, has run into a legal tangle just hours before its 4 am premiere on Friday. Late on Thursday evening, the Bangalore City Civil Court passed an interim injunction against the film’s release following a petition filed by Venkatesh G against producer Vijay Kiragandur of Hombale Films and Lakshmi Narayana of Arya Films informing that he had bought the film rights to Rowdy Tangham’s real life story and claimed that KGF is heavily inspired by the same.

The order demanded that the producers be present in court for the next hearing, scheduled for January 7. Subsequently, the law firm of Vekantesh, Ekalavya & Associates issued a notice to UFO Moviez warning them that screening the film on December 21 would result in contempt of court and every party will be liable to bear the consequences in case of a breach.

The film has been booked in 2000-plus screens across India, the widest release for a Kannada film till date. Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani are presenting the film in Hindi and a number of city theatres had also allowed shows to it with the press screening scheduled for 9.30 am.

When Mirror reached out to Ritesh, he insisted we speak to the creative producer, Karthik Gowda, who asserted, “We have not received any order from the court as of now and refuse to react to such rumours. The film will release on December 21 as planned.”

At the time of this paper going to print, we asked Gowda about their future course of action in case they received a court order on Friday. “It is not possible to stall such a wide release at the last minute. All the shows for the opening day are house full. I don’t want to believe anything till I see the order for myself,” he said.

KGF: Chapter 1 is the first installment in the two part action-period drama set in the Kolar Gold Fields. It is written-directed by Prashanth Neel and features Yash and Shrinidhi as leads.