Sanjay Gupta lands into trouble over film promotion

Producers are trying all sorts of ways to market their films these days. While UTV hung Rs 3.5 lakh on a billboard promoting their film Pan Singh Tomar, White Feather Films decided to issue confidential letters from the Police Commissioner's Office to media houses, inviting them to the launch of his new film Shootout At Wadala.

The latter did not go out well with the Mumbai police and they have issued a case of cheating to Sanjay Gupta.

Gupta claims he is not aware of it, but defends himself: "If you look at the release, we haven't used the word 'Mumbai' at all. Also, we've used a mocked emblem (sic).

"As far as we are concerned, it was nothing more than an innovative and creative marketing thing. It was an invitation sent only to the media and not to the public. In any case, the invitation has a disclaimer stating that this is not a real summons and is purely for publicity and promotional purposes," Gupta added.

Gupta returns to direction after a gap of four years with Shootout At Wadala.

"The story is about the first ever-recorded police encounter," says Gupta, who will now start the film's shooting. "The police has helped us with the research of the film. I also referred to crime journalist Hussain Zaidi's book Dongri to Dubai."

The film seems to be a prequel to Gupta's previous hit Shootout At Lokhandwala but none of its actors (Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Vivek Oberoi and Arbaaz Khan) have been repeated except for Tusshar Kapoor.

Does Gupta miss Dutt in his film, and life (the two co-owned White Feather Films but had a fall-out soon after)? He replies: "An actor cannot increase or lessen the impact of the film. As far as Sanju is concerned, we have done our share of movies and it's time to move on."

Besides Tusshar, Shootout At Wadala stars John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Manoj Bajpai, Ronit Roy, Mahesh Manjrekar and Kangna Ranaut. It will also mark the debut of Shakti Kapoor's son Siddhant.

The story revolves around the rise of the underworld gangster Manya Surve, played by John Abraham.

The actor has been working hard to get into the skin of the character, and is brushing up on his Marathi-speaking skills.

"I am trying to get acquainted to the character I am playing," John says. "I understand Marathi and speak it quite well. But since Manya Surve was a Maharashtrian, it is necessary for me to get comfortable with the colloquial slang."

The 39-year old actor had earlier voiced his disappointment with feeble promotions of his previous release Force. This time, he expects to have a full-blown promotional activity of his multi-starrer, big budget movie, Shootout At Wadala.

"Every film requires promotions," he says. "What Ekta (Kapoor) and Sanjay (Gupta) have done is a boon. I have been given an opportunity to show what I can do. It's a great opportunity and I'm going to grab it with both hands."

Kangna Ranaut is the only actress in the male-dominated film but she says she doesn't feel sidelined.

"I am the romantic force of the film," she asserts.

The actress plays Vidya Doshi, Manya Surve's love interest.

Wearing a black strapless dress, Kangna explained, "I play a Maharashtrian girl. The film is set in 1970s and early 1980s. My look is similar to that period. We have kept the look as authentic as we could. I took inspiration from Smita Patil and Rekha for my look."

Shakti Kapoor's son Siddhant looked very excited about his debut film. "I don't think I could have asked for a better debut. I play a sharp shooter in a gang and am looking forward to it," he said.

Sonu Sood plays Dawood Ibrahaim. He says: "When Sanjay narrated the script to me, I already felt in character! I know I will be safe in the hands of a director of his stature."

In preparation for his role, Sood has started collecting books and other necessary material on Dawood, and is also meeting people who know him.

So what are the risks of making a movie on real life gangsters?

"I hope there's no underworld censorship! But if anyone of us goes missing by the next press conference, you know what happened! We got censored!" Ekta exclaimed with a grin.

Shootout at Wadala is slated to release on December 7.