Vivek Oberoi is turning bad!

Vivek Oberoi will play Maya Dolas, a mafia henchman who is killed in a police encounter, in Apoorva Lakhia's new film, Shootout At Lokhandwala.  

Confirming the news, Lakhia, who has directed Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost and Ek Ajnabi earlier, said, "When I offered Vivek the role, he readily agreed to do it."

Saif's villain act

Lakhia's film is based on a real-life incident in which international terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's henchmen Dolas and Dilip Buva were killed in a shootout with the Mumbai police in 1991. The 14-hour encounter, which was covered live by a local cable network, shook the financial capital of India. 

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A A Khan, one of Mumbai's top cops at the time, led the police team's assault against the hitmen, who were holed up in a ground-floor flat in an apartment complex in Lokhandwala, a western suburb of Mumbai.

Sanjay Dutt will play Khan, and apparently Tusshar Kapoor has agreed to play Buva, who was also killed in the shootout. Abhishek Bachchan will play the role Abhishek Mahatre, another police inspector who played a key role in the shootout.

Neha Dhupia, newcomer Neha Oberoi, Arjun Rampal, Arbaaz Khan, Rohit Roy, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Sameer Dattani will also feature in the film.

"I spoke to many witnesses before starting the film," said Lakhia. "The memory of this incident is still very fresh in the minds of the people who witnessed it closely."

Shooting of the film will start in August, and it is scheduled for a 2007 release.