Few things excited Sanjay Gupta as much as the prospect of helming a riveting crime thriller. And the filmmaker had zeroed in on one such subject before his sudden death on October 30. mid-day has learnt that he was developing the screen adaptation of the true crime thriller, CIU: Criminals In Uniform, written by investigative journalists Dr Sanjay Singh and Rakesh Trivedi. Gupta, who would have made his web series debut with it, was planning it as an eight-part series.

Speaking to mid-day, Singh revealed that the filmmaker had approached Naseeruddin Shah, Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, and Dia Mirza for the series.

“Sanjay Gupta held several meetings with us and had prepared an elaborate pitch deck. He was in discussions with Anil Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Akshaye Khanna, Emraan Hashmi, Atul Kulkarni, Mahesh Manjrekar, and Ronit Bose Roy. His ambition was to create one of India’s most star-studded web series.”

Inspired by the 2021 Antilia bomb scare, CIU: Criminals In Uniform is a fictionalized telling of how the controversial head of Mumbai Police’s Crime Investigation Unit leads the probe after explosives are found in a vehicle parked outside the house of a wealthy business tycoon.

Singh added, “Sanjay believed the book had potential for a gripping web series. He understood the sensitivity of the subject.”

Gupta’s 32-year career was built on stylized crime thrillers and action dramas like Kaante (2002), Zinda (2006), Shootout At Wadala (2013), and Kaabil (2017). What distinguished him from other filmmakers, according to Singh, was that his stories were never only about the crime. “It was about the people, circumstances, hidden truths, and the larger story that the public had never been told.”

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Anil Kapoor as Commissioner, Mumbai Police; Naseeruddin Shah as a bureaucrat; Akshaye Khanna as Assistant Commissioner of Police; Emraan Hashmi as a senior inspector

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Sanjay Singh revealed that Sanjay Gupta was keen on revisiting the 1978 Ranga-Billa case, despite Prime Video’s ‘Raakh’ having recently explored the story.

He shared, “I’ve written a book on Ranga and Billa, and Sanjay was interested in bringing their story to the screen. When ‘Raakh’ came out, Sanjay felt that the makers had missed an opportunity to explore a much more complex crime story. He believed there was still tremendous potential to make a powerful and factually accurate web series on them”

"It was not his time to go” was the sentiment echoed across the Hindi film industry following filmmaker Sanjay Gupta’s accidental death at his Mumbai residence. The 57-year-old filmmaker suffered a head injury after accidentally falling in his kitchen on Friday (October 30). Friends and collaborators remembered his spirited nature and passion for cinema.

Shabana Azmi, who co-produced the 2007 anthology Dus Kahaaniyan with Gupta and later acted in his Jazbaa (2015), said she could not believe she was speaking about him in the past tense. “On the sets, he gave a lot of freedom to his actors after giving them an outline of what he had in mind. He was positive, always enthusiastic, and a very good producer. Sanjay was always full of stories and a keen cineaste,” Azmi told mid-day.

Known for slick actioners featuring cool anti-heroes and thumping music, Gupta made his mark with Kaante (2002) and Musafir (2004). Producer Rangita Nandy, whose father Pritish Nandy co-produced Kaante, revealed that she and Gupta had recently discussed a sequel.

“Sanjay and we made an unforgettable film. Kaante, which remains a defining film — distinctive in its storytelling, stylish in its execution, and unforgettable for the way it brought together an exceptional cast and a gripping heist narrative. He was always keen to make a sequel. It’s unfortunate that that wish will remain a dream,” she said.

Writer and director Milap Zaveri, who co-wrote Kaante’s dialogues, remembered Gupta as his mentor. “He gave me Kaante at 21. Then resurrected my career again with Musafir, and Shootout At Wadala [2013]. He was my father. My teacher. I’m heartbroken.”

Gupta’s last directorial was The Miranda Brothers (2024). Its lead actor, Harshvardhan Rane, remembered his warmth and love for family. “He was all about loving his family and making films non-stop. During shoot, he often took Meezaan [Jafri] and me out to eat in Goa. I had never met a happier man on and off set. He had a huge heart, and I will miss him dearly,” Rane added.

When I was abroad, Sanjay Gupta used to send recommendations to watch things on YouTube. He was a good friend and a very good soul. I never expected him to go so early in life. I enjoyed making Kaabil with him. When he narrated the script to Hrithik [Roshan] and me, I shook hands with him then and there and said we were going ahead with it.

Sanjay was a good technician and a capable director. He never did anything without asking me while filming Kaabil. After the shoot got over, I told him I couldn’t have made this film as well as he had. I never once had to go on the sets.

He discussed everything before we shot. I was going to give him my next film whenever I thought of making one. He had been sitting on two or three subjects for two years, but we could not lock any of them. He had written the script for Kaabil 2. Hrithik and I had heard the script and liked it. We were working on it when, all of a sudden, this happened.

Sanjay was the second director [after Anurag Basu] to work with our banner. He was a commercial director with sound technical knowledge, including shot-taking and lighting. When I saw the first copy of Kaabil, I told him, ‘You have far exceeded my imagination’.

He also sat with me on the third and fourth instalments of Krrish. We were close and practically met every day. He was an all-rounder in filmmaking. We would script together without any arguments, very calmly. If something was not good enough, he would come back with another idea, or I would. There was no ego between us. He would explain to actors what he wanted from them and [find a way] to extract what he envisioned.

Sanjay was attached to his team and was like family to everybody. Besides being a good director and technician, he was a very good human being, a good friend, family member, father and husband — rare qualities, but Sanjay had all of them.

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE)’s decision to issue a Non-Cooperation Directive (NCD) has sparked reactions across the film industry and on social media. While many questioned whether a film body can “ban” an artiste, FWICE General Secretary Ashok Dubey clarified that the organization has not banned anyone.

Dubey tells us, “Agar ye trend chalta raha to kaafi filmmaker aur producers nuksaan mein jaayenge. Humne Ranveer Singh ko ban nahi kiya, humne toh non-cooperation bola hai. Federation ke members ka decision hai ye. Film body ka internal decision hai that our members will not work with him until the Don 3 matter gets resolved.”

Actor Manoj Bajpayee reacted to the controversy while speaking at the trailer launch of his upcoming film, when he was asked about safeguarding actors in such situations. As per PTI, while saying he hopes “the matter is resolved soon”, the actor clarified that he “does not have detailed information about it” and that the “industry currently only knows about the matter through social media”.

One of the first reactions came from filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who questioned the move, arguing that banning an actor ultimately affects film productions and the livelihood of hundreds of crew members. Taking to X, Gupta wrote, “When an A-list hero shoots there are more than 300 workers working on sets. Ban him and you are not stopping him but depriving the workers of their livelihood. What sense does it even make???”

Reacting to Sanjay Gupta’s remarks, Ashok Dubey, General Secretary, FWICE, said film bodies have consistently supported filmmakers during production-related disputes. “I want to ask Sanjay Gupta ji that when his film Mumbai Saga (2021) was being shot and Jackie Shroff ne aane se mana kar diya, he came to us. IFTDA and FWICE intervened and sorted the matter. Where was this objection then?” he said.

What will be the fate of Ranveer Singh’s movies in the pipeline? That was the big question in the Hindi film industry after the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), on May 25, announced a non-cooperation directive against the actor in relation to producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s complaint that he had abruptly exited Don 3 and allegedly caused significant financial losses to the project. The directive is likely to affect Singh’s slate, which has the ambitious zombie thriller Pralay and Aditya Dhar’s next on Chandragupta Maurya.

Pralay, directed by Jai Mehta, is slated to roll in August. Trade insiders say that the film — produced by Singh’s Maa Kasam Films, Hansal Mehta’s True Story Films, and Birla Studios — will involve nearly 500 technicians and workers across departments including action, lighting, costumes, make-up, art direction, and spot staff. Considering 34 vendor associations fall under the FWICE, the non-cooperation directive threatens to disrupt the film’s schedules. mid-day contacted Hansal and Jai for a comment on the film’s probable delay, but they didn’t respond till press time.

A source from the production, however, told mid-day that the directive would do more harm than good. “In the Hindi film industry, where over 70 per cent of the daily wage earners are already out of work because not many films are being made, shouldn’t the FWICE allow them to work instead of taking opportunities away with this directive? As for Pralay, in the worst-case scenario, Ranveer can take the cast and crew, and shoot the movie anywhere in India. While the FWICE’s stand applies to all of its members, it cannot legally stop non-members from working. If Pralay is shot outside Mumbai, the makers may bypass the FWICE-affiliated workers by hiring local crew members belonging to other unions,” said the source.

Ashoke Pandit, chief advisor, FWICE, is confident that the directive issued is the right approach in light of the situation. That said, the cine body is open to a resolution between Singh and Don 3 makers. When mid-day reached out to him, Pandit said, “The FWICE directive is effective because our federation has 34 vendor associations under it. If they don’t have vendors, workers, and technicians, who will they shoot with? People underestimate the strength of the federation. The situation can only be resolved if everybody sits together and sorts it out amicably.”

Sources indicate that producers of Singh’s upcoming projects may approach the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the FWICE’s directive. In a 2017 case filed by filmmaker Vipul A Shah, the CCI held that practices such as issuing non-cooperation directives, preventing producers from hiring non-members, stalling shoots, and restricting the supply of services amounted to anti-competitive conduct under the Competition Act. A producer associated with one of Singh’s upcoming films said, on condition of anonymity, “If this situation escalates further, producers may collectively approach the commission for intervention.”

Chandragupta Maurya project, to be directed by Aditya Dhar and backed by Jio Studios. He is said to be in talks with YRF head honcho Aditya Chopra for a film

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Lucky Ali has remained one of Indian music’s most emotionally resonant voices, a singer who made vulnerability sound timeless. Lucky inherited fame early but spent much of his life quietly walking away from it. From briefly dabbling in acting to redefining India’s indie-pop landscape with Sunoh, his journey has always been guided less by ambition and more by instinct. In a conversation with us, the singer reflects on fame, silence, authenticity, and why music, for him, still feels like growth. Excerpts:

I’m not a trained singer, and I’m a bad actor. Acting was more my father’s (late actor Mehmood) wish. I wanted to please him, so I did a few films — some bad ones. But I also got to work with directors like Shyam Benegal and Sanjay Gupta. But I would only act again if something genuinely touched my heart. Music feels different to me. It feels like growth. On stage, you can keep discovering things you couldn’t do before — that’s the beauty of it.

The industry was what it was, and I never found the comfort of making music from within that system. Honestly, the music we made had a lot of mistakes — musically, even lyrically sometimes. But whatever happened, happened naturally. It made me feel good, and I believed it would make others feel good too.

Not difficult at all. I just do my music when I feel like doing it. I’m not dictated to by the system, and I don’t follow it either. I’ve always worked with people who are independent in their thinking and music. For me, music has to be heartfelt. It shouldn’t be too prolonged or repetitive.

You see it everywhere, not just in the entertainment industry. There’s always a rise, and then there’s a point where things slow down. That’s natural. Age plays an important factor, and there comes a time when certain phases stop. So, fame is a difficult thing because after a point, you’re not entirely your own person anymore. It’s different when we’re performing because that comes from the heart. But it becomes difficult to move around normally because people surround you. I deal with it by taking long breaks before coming back to it again.

There was already so much fame within the family — my father, my aunt (Meena Kumari) — and I had seen that closely. It never really appealed to me. For many people, fame is something they want to achieve, but for me, it was just something that was thrust upon me. My intentions were always different. I never even thought of myself as a musician who would last this long. I simply wanted to do what I had set out to do, which was to make that album. I had applied myself to music far more than acting or anything else.

I always wanted to bring my father back on stage in some form. We had even discussed the idea of performing his songs with him appearing on stage alongside us. But something like that takes a lot of time, effort and money, and I never really pursued it further. The idea still exists though. Maybe I’ll do it, maybe I won’t. I don’t really want to go beyond my father when it comes to that.

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On Sunoh resonating with the audience till date... Lucky says, “What I felt at that time, I wrote. And whoever listened to it carried those feelings within them. Now those people have grown up, and somehow the music has stayed with them. I don’t know why I got the opportunity to do what I’ve done. It’s not something you can plan. It’s just how the time was, and how things happened.”

“If people are still listening to the music, then clearly the feelings haven’t become old. Their realities may be different now, but the emotions are still the same. My music evolves, and so do I with it”

“For me, music and singing were the only forms of expression that truly made sense because they came more naturally to me than theatrics or other forms of expression”

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta has reacted to the growing buzz around Kaabil 2, after social media went into a frenzy over his recent post hinting at a sequel to the 2017 Hrithik Roshan-Yami Gautam Dhar-starrer. The excitement began when Gupta responded to a fan query on X, saying that Kaabil 2 was “ready” and “deadlier,” a comment that was later deleted, but not before screenshots went viral.

Reacting to the overwhelming response, Gupta tells us, “My tweet was a reply in jest to a personal friend. The fact is that yes, Kaabil 2 has been written and this time it is indeed far more deadlier. But right now, the Roshan family’s complete focus is on Krrish 4, which I feel will be bigger than the first three put together. Anything on Kaabil 2, if and when, will only be announced by Rakesh ji.”

Kaabil starred Hrithik as Rohan Bhatnagar, a visually impaired man. The story follows Rohan and his wife Supriya, who are both blind, and shows how their peaceful life is shattered after a brutal crime. The film traces Rohan’s determined quest for justice, highlighting his intelligence, resilience, and emotional strength despite his disability.

At the box office, Kaabil faced a major clash with Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees upon release, which affected its overall collections. Despite the tough competition, the film performed reasonably well, recovered its budget, and was considered a moderate commercial success. Hrithik Roshan’s performance received strong praise and played a key role in drawing audiences to the film.

The ‘Shootout’ franchise is officially stepping out of Mumbai and going international. After earlier plans to shift the narrative to Delhi, the makers have now finalized Dubai as the setting for the third film, titled ‘Shootout In Dubai’.

Following ‘Shootout At Lokhandwala’ (2007) and ‘Shootout At Wadala’ (2013), which chronicled the rise of Mumbai’s underworld, the new instalment marks the franchise’s first international outing. Harshvardhan Rane is currently the only actor confirmed to headline the film.

The project has been in development since 2021, with the script going through six major drafts. According to sources, Ektaa R Kapoor and co-creator Sanjay Gupta were unwilling to move forward until the screenplay matched the visceral punch of the earlier films.

“There was no pressure to rush this. The makers were very clear that unless the script carried the same aggression and attitude as Lokhandwala and Wadala, they wouldn’t greenlight it. Each draft was about the tone. It seems they finally have something they can bet on and will lock it by March,” a source told mid-day.

Unlike the previous films, which drew heavily from real-life gangland encounters, Shootout In Dubai will tell a completely fictional story. “This one is designed to feel swankier. Dubai allows for scale, be it glass buildings, highways, night action, a more international visual grammar. It’s still a Shootout film, but with a fresh skin,” the source concluded.

Sonam Bajwa is reportedly a front runner for the female lead.

Piracy has morphed into something far more dangerous than bootleg DVDs. In his latest series First Copy that is set in the 1990s, director Farhan Zamma dives into this shadowy world as he tells the story of Arif, an unemployed youngster who is lured by the quick money of film piracy.

“Growing up in the 1990s, I saw how DVD piracy became an affordable, accessible form of entertainment that families consumed together. What struck me later was that while the industry has explored major scams of Harshad Mehta, Nirav Modi, and [Abdul Karim] Telgi, we’ve never told the story of piracy. It impacted the growth of Indian cinema, yet it was never addressed on screen,” says the director.

Zamma has told stories across formats, from web series Taj: Divided By Blood and Happily Ever After (2020) to documentaries, including Heritage Trails One District One Product (2021). Those past experiences helped him shape the Amazon MX Player series. The director shares that while his love for research-driven storytelling fuelled First Copy’s script, the protagonist came to life only when he saw Munawar Faruqui.

“The story lacked a central character. That changed when I watched Munawar’s Dongri Ka Rider. The moment I saw it, I knew we had found our Arif. There were questions about whether he could act, but we were confident in our choice.”

His research of 13 months took him through the wildest true stories. “The stories revealed the scale of the issue. This wasn’t just petty theft; it was an organized system,” asserts the director.

Piracy continues to plague Indian cinema even today. Last month, news emerged that as per an audit commissioned by Sikandar’s makers, the Salman Khan-starrer had suffered losses of about R91 crore due to piracy. Mention this to Zamma, and he says, “We are making a show about piracy in an age where content is pirated before the credits roll. First Copy doesn’t glorify piracy. We’re holding up the mirror to a system that remains broken; the tools may have changed, but the problem hasn’t.”

As part of his research on film piracy, Farhan Zamma learnt about real-life experiences of many filmmakers. He recounts, “Sanjay Gupta recalled being forced by the underworld to sell his film’s international rights at double the usual price so that those prints could be pirated abroad and smuggled back into India just before the release. Madhur Bhandarkar shared how some producers, overwhelmed by mounting losses, ended up selling their own reels to pirates simply to recover [a part of] the cost.”

Fardeen Khan grew up in an environment that was all about movies. In a chat with us, he shares that while his father, actor-filmmaker Feroz Khan, gave him a launch pad, he also told him that beyond that, he would have to find his own foothold. “It was crucial for my father that his children create their own identity. He was protective but always insisted that I had to earn my own goodwill and place in the industry,” says the actor.

Fardeen agrees that he had the privilege of being from a film family, but he was also aware that there was a certain responsibility that came with it. “As time passed, I built my own relationships, separate from my father’s legacy. I grew up learning from him – not just as an actor, but seeing him as a producer and director. I had a front-row seat to how films were made and the challenges filmmakers faced. And that taught me to balance both the actor’s and producer’s perspectives, so I’ve never caused trouble for any producer,” he shares.

Over the years, Fardeen believes he has built his own goodwill in the industry. He says, “I’d like to think I earned my reputation. I have worked with several filmmakers like Sanjay Gupta, Mudassar Aziz, and Ram Gopal Varma multiple times. Also, whenever there’s been a tough situation, I’ve taken responsibility to resolve it personally.”

Recalling the time when his debut film, Prem Aggan (1998), directed by Feroz Khan, failed at the box office, Fardeen says, “When Prem Aggan didn’t succeed, I was quickly written off. My father sat me down and said, ‘Son, we made an effort, but we failed. You’ve got a college degree, you’ve learned from my experiences and from your own life. Now, you’ll have to pave your own way.’ He told me he would support me for one year, but after that, I would have to be on my own.”

Producers Boney Kapoor and Naga Vamsi recently got into a heated exchange over the debate around Bollywood versus South films.

Now, following backlash from a number of Hindi filmmakers for “disrespecting” Kapoor, the Telugu producer has clarified his arguments on X. He wrote: “We respect Boney ji more than u guys do and there was no disrespect towards Boney ji in that conversation it was a healthy discussion, [we] had a nice laugh and hugged each other after the interview… So please don’t come to your conclusions with just what you saw (sic).”

During a roundtable discussion for Galatta Plus, Vamsi had noted that regional films such as the Baahubali franchise and RRR (2022) had reshaped Hindi cinema’s approach to mass entertainment. “It might sound really harsh,” he told Kapoor, adding, “We, South Indians, have changed the way [Bollywood] look at cinema. Because you guys were stuck in making films for Bandra and Juhu.”

Several Hindi filmmakers then slammed Vamsi for his tone. Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta wrote on X, “Who is this obnoxious guy sitting next to a senior producer like Boney Ji and deriding him with his fake vanity? 4/5 hits dene se yeh Bollywood ke baap nahin bane na banenge.”

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta echoed the sentiment: “Since this person Mr Naga Vamsi was being so arrogant and now that I know who he is : His latest hit as a producer Lucky Bhaskar (2024) has borrowed liberally from the Scam series.”

There has been much talk about the entertainment industry making room for stories over stars. But the on-ground reality is different, says Sanjay Gupta. The filmmaker learnt it the hard way as he set out to make The Miranda Brothers, starring Harshvardhan Rane and Meezaan Jafri. “To pull off such a film isn’t easy. I started my digital wing because we cannot ignore OTT,” he states.

The casting for the football drama, set to première on Jio Cinema, had to be simple. The director needed two actors well-versed in the sport. “I wanted to make the film immediately. If I were to go to Varun [Dhawan] or Sidharth [Malhotra], I would have to wait for a year. None of the stars at that time were willing to do a direct-to-OTT film. Even now, most of them are not. As I shot this movie in Goa, I learnt that I’m not dependent on a crew of 300. You can be a big-ticket director and yet make a movie that you feel for. Every film doesn’t have to be with mega stars.”

The Miranda Brothers is a departure for Gupta, who, over the past three decades, has made movies about the Bombay underworld—be it the Shootout franchise, or Mumbai Saga (2019). But today, even as the underworld has reared its ugly head again with Baba Siddique’s murder, the director says the current environment can’t be reflected on celluloid.

“These times cannot be chronicled because everything is state-controlled, even crime. You have Lawrence Bishnoi sitting in the Sabarmati jail, putting out videos and messages. What’s going on! This is a show of law and order collapsing. Ektaa [R Kapoor] and I are working on the third edition of the Shootout franchise. One of the decisions we’ve made is not to set it in Mumbai. These are uncertain times. So, we are researching to do [a story] outside Mumbai.”

This restraint is not in crime stories alone. Gupta rues that he has to often hold back as a filmmaker, given the current scenario.

“If you’re an intelligent filmmaker and not too stubborn, you make the changes yourself because the legal department and OTT platforms go through the script and they censor it [preemptively]. They say this may land us in trouble, that may land us in trouble. It’s an atmosphere of fear. You cannot have fearless storytelling anymore. My next show is based on a true story that happened in Mumbai in front of our eyes, it was appalling. But we’re changing the names because you can’t take names anymore. I feel disillusioned on behalf of the new generation of filmmakers. They all have a voice. But how many of them will be able to express what they truly want to? There is no medium. Earlier, it seemed that you can say what you want on OTT. But now it has become the most censored as people heavily come down on them. Today, the filmmaker’s agency is taken away.”

In Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, author Suketu Mehta described Bombay as “the city of dreams where nothing is as it seems”. Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta feels it’s an apt description of the city that plays a prime role in his next, Visfot. Mumbai’s contrasts—wealth and poverty, tradition and modernity, ambition and despair—became the perfect backdrop for the filmmaker’s desi adaptation of the Venezuelan film Rock, Paper, Scissors (2012).

“Mumbai is not just a backdrop; it’s the heartbeat of the stories I want to tell. It’s a city of dreams, but also of harsh realities. In Visfot, we continue my love affair with Mumbai, using the city’s gritty locales to the film’s themes of conflict and redemption,” shares Gupta.

The Riteish Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan-starrer plays out over a day, as two men from opposite backgrounds find their fates intertwined. It’s an unusual casting decision, considering Deshmukh is usually seen in comedies and Khan has returned to movies after a 14-year hiatus.

Gupta says, “I am the biggest Feroz Khan fan, and Fardeen has his father’s screen presence. I was delighted to work with him on this. When people watch the film, they will ask, ‘Why was this guy not around for a decade?’ He and Riteish bring a brilliant on-screen face-off.”

The producer found the right director in Kookie Gulati, who previously helmed The Big Bull (2021). “I was mighty impressed by The Big Bull and knew I wanted to work with him. Kookie has elevated the material with his incisive direction. I never needed to visit his set, he ran the show gloriously.”

Visfot is slated to première on Jio Cinema this week. Does it bother him that the action thriller is OTT-bound instead of getting a theatrical release?

“The film was made for OTT from the word go. We cannot undermine the power of OTT. During the lockdown, we saw how the viewing patterns changed.”

But it is a stressful market to release films in, when a movie’s success or failure is unpredictable. How does it affect independent producers? “It makes us feel alone. To be empowered to tell a story in its truest sense, you need immense logistical support. That becomes much harder in a shaky market. But this is also the time where passionate storytelling will take precedence.”

The Hindi film industry is shocked by the sudden and untimely demise of Sanjay Gadhvi. The director, best known for helming action thriller films like Dhoom and Dhoom 2, passed away on Sunday morning following a heart attack. He was to celebrate his 57th birthday on November 22.

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta says Gadhvi remains the same great guy he knew from his schooling days in South Mumbai, where the latter used to stay.

“We worked together for Sippy Films. He was assisting Anant Balani, who also is no more, I was doing sound designing for Patthar Ke Phool. Even after he achieved success with films like Dhoom and Dhoom 2, he remained the same genuinely wonderful person he always was.”

The Mumbai Saga director shares he will remember his namesake for his personality and his energy. “He was always positive, a nice person. I never saw him stressed about anything.”

Rahul Dev remembers Gadhvi for being welcoming and helpful even before they collaborated on Kidnap. The actor, who was looking to return to work after a break, met the director at his home. “He couldn’t get me any work at that time as he was going through a process of introspection. He had been working on a film but that didn’t take off as planned. Yet, he gave me two hours of his time, speaks a lot of his helpful, kind and patient nature,” reminisces the actor who also worked with the director on his last venture, Operation Parindey.

The making of the 2020 film that released on Zee5 was testing times just before the pandemic. Dev recalls, “We had gone to Punjab to shoot it. Seeing him direct, I used to wonder why he wasn’t doing work more prolifically. He was too good a director to have done only that number of films. After all, he had made films like Dhoom and Dhoom 2.”

The actor reveals that the director connected with him for their third project together. “He was dabbling with another interesting subject. Unfortunately, it didn’t see the light of day as he couldn’t start it.”

Dev shares that the most incredible aspect about Gadhvi as a director was his sense of shot-taking. “We’ve seen both, Dhoom and Dhoom 2. I worked with him on a big budget film like Kidnap and a small-budgeted project like Operation Parindey, in which the crane shot is enough to tell you how he knew what to make and how to mount it. He was tech-savvy to make small films look like they were made on a big scale.”

The actor shared that the director was a very nice and kind guy. “Often times, people say good things about those after they are no longer around us. Gadhvi was one of those genuinely nice guys everyone spoke good about all the time.”

Does talent alone assure you a successful run in showbiz? Priya Bapat rues that it doesn’t, although it ideally should. The actor is having a busy summer, with the third season of City Of Dreams having dropped on Disney+ Hotstar last month. Next up is Jio Cinema’s con drama Rafuchakkar. While she has become a frequent face in OTT offerings now, Bapat notes that talent is not the only factor determining an actor’s inclusion in a project.

“I feel disappointed because eventually what lasts is talent. If you can’t work on your craft, how long will you stretch yourself? Five projects, maybe? People should have faith in the actor. Everything else is immaterial — be it which region you belong to, or what your first language is,” she states.

The actor, whose filmography includes a mix of Marathi and Hindi offerings, observes that the Hindi entertainment industry is quick to label artistes.

“I was labelled a Marathi actor for the longest time till Nagesh Kukunoor saw merit in my work, Sameer Nair [producer] backed him, and City Of Dreams happened to me. I want people to see my worth as an actor. Language is not even a barrier anymore; it’s merely a tool for expression.”

Shedding the label was challenging, but Bapat had faith in her craft. That filmmaker Sanjay Gupta cast her in Visfot after watching the second season of City of Dreams further boosted her confidence. “He was blown away by my performance. Then came Rafuchakkar in which I play a lawyer from Delhi. I hired a coach and worked on my diction. I have been working since 2003; I did a role in Munna Bhai MBBS. But it has taken 20 years to shed the Marathi-actor label and be cast in meaty roles.”

Sanjay Gupta’s romance with crime dramas continues. This time around, though, he has traded Mumbai’s grimy setting for the beaches of Goa. The yet-untitled film, starring Harshvardhan Rane and Meezaan Jafri, revolves around two brothers, who are also football players. After narrating several gangster stories, Gupta is relieved to move towards a modest setting.

“After Mumbai Saga [2021], I felt I was done with set-pieces. I came across this wonderful script, which is about two brothers and football,” says Gupta, who has co-written the drama.

The movie’s setting isn’t the only factor that sets it apart from the filmmaker’s previous offerings. Having collaborated with stars in the past, it was rejuvenating to work with relatively newer faces. “I wanted to first cast the actors with the right physicality and screen presence. I am quite old-fashioned [in my belief] that a hero [must] look like a hero. I felt these two boys have the potential to break through. I cast them because they were football players as well as good actors,” he says of Rane and Jafri.

Currently in post-production, the crime drama is among the five projects conceptualized by Gupta’s production house in 2021, for direct-to-OTT release. “We have no illusion of taking these movies to theatres and making big numbers. I was clear that it would take minimum two years for [Bollywood to recover after the pandemic].”

Besides the upcoming project, Fardeen Khan and Riteish Deshmukh’s Visfot is ready to stream next year. The remaining three are also thrillers set against different backdrops. Gupta adds, “One is a story of a day in Chandni Chowk, while the other is a comedy thriller. I will direct the third, which is a black comedy.”

Sanjay Gupta and Ayaz Khan

In January, mid-day reported that Sanjay Gupta was bringing to screen the story of Mumbai’s drug queen, Shashikala aka Baby Patankar (She took over what was considered male bastion, January 13). Now, as the team is in the final stages of scripting, the filmmaker is roping in advocate Ayaz Khan — who represented Baby Patankar in the ’90s — as a consultant.

“When we take notes from Baby Patankar or her family, it is their perspective and bound to be one-sided. There is a flip side to every story. So while we also get the viewpoint of the police and the narcotics bureau officers of that time, one person who knows both sides is the lawyer. In our case, it is Ayaz Khan,” explains Gupta.

In the past, Khan has represented celebrities, including Fardeen Khan, Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa. As Gupta explores the journey of Meow Meow queen, as she was known after she allegedly became Maharashtra’s biggest dealer of Meow Meow, the filmmaker wants it to be a balanced narrative.

“A woman, who worked as a milk vendor and house-help in the mid ’80s, forayed into the drug business and rose through the ranks to control the narcotics empire of India by the late ’90s. We are getting Ayaz Khan on board as a consultant to ensure that we don’t go wrong with the legalities.”

While he had initially envisioned the project as a web series, he has now converted it into a film.

Shashikala aka Baby Patankar