'There were problems because Sanju left early'

Sanjay Dutt recently left Canada, where he had gone for a film shoot, in a huff when a section of the Canadian press claimed that the actor had been allowed into the country despite facing charges of possession of illegal weapons and a possible link to Islamist terrorists in India.

Dutt was in Calgary, shooting for Anubhav Sinha's Dus. The furious actor has vowed never to shoot in Canada again.

While the actor returned to India immediately, the rest of the cast and crew stayed back to continue with the shoot.

Subhash K Jha caught up with Sinha (Tum Bin) to probe the matter. Excerpts:

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A report in Mumbai claimed that the cast of Dus was unhappy with the way their dates were wasted in Canada.

Really? No one complained to me. In fact, everyone has been simply amazing.

Yes, a lot of actors had free days during our schedule there. But they knew about it even before they left Mumbai, and were not upset at all. I can't be shooting with all 10 stars everyday.

The atmosphere was brilliantly conducive to work.

Are you happy with your shooting so far?

The work so far has been competent. I am three days ahead of schedule. We require only one scene that we have decided to shoot in Mumbai.

Did you face a problem because Sanjay Dutt left?

I shot nine days before I left for Canada. We are shooting 34 days in Canada and we are scheduled to shoot for another 15 days in Mumbai from September 15 to 30. That makes 58 days of shooting for a film like this! That also means the cast is cooperating and working hard, else this would not have been possible.

Yes, there were problems because Sanju left early. We needed him for the entire schedule. Not for the work he finished his work but because he was such great company! But I guess he had commitments. [It was] our loss.

So Dutt completed his work?

Yes. Except for a scene that we decided to shoot in Mumbai.

We will finish everything, I repeat everything, that we had planned till the 24th. The schedule was planned till the 28th. The remaining scene will take four hours to shoot in Mumbai.

How could stories about mismanagement have filtered out?

See, after shooting, the cast and crew get together for drinks. Someone might have complained after three consecutive days of layoff. But I don't believe that person meant any harm.

The paper which wrote about my so-called incompetence had no business writing so irresponsibly without consulting me. I'm planning to take legal action against them!