Shootout At Wadala promo made ‘safe’; film to drop names of real characters

Kunal M Shah (MID-DAY; January 30, 2013)

 

What’s in a name? Apparently a lot as the producers of Sanjay Gupta’s Shootout At Wadala think. Just 10 days ago, the film’s first-look was released that introduced its characters with their on-screen names. However, a new promo is out that has omitted names of all the controversial characters.

Gupta’s film is based on gangsters like Manya Surve and underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim and cop Isaque Bagwan.

Our source says,  Sonu Sood plays Dawood while Manoj Bajpayee plays Sabbir. Anil Kapoor will be seen as Isaac and John play Manya. However in spite of the first promo creating the necessary buzz, the new promo strangely has no names of these characters.” An industry insider comments, “One wonders if there has been any pressure from the original characters to remove their names. Also Ekta Kapoor was always adamant to use the real names and the project has been promoted in that manner. This new development seems completely strange.”

In safe zone?

Buzz is that it is just a strategy embraced by the production house to stay safe, considering that the promos were generating too much attention.

Also the recent outcry by super-cop Isaque might also be one of the reasons. Suddenly he seems to have developed cold feet. There are also whispers that people connected to the underworld could have raised strong objections to the content of the promo.

Tanuj Garg, CEO of Balaji Motion Pictures says, “It’s our strategy to release a new promo creative for the net in quick succession.” Gupta remained unavailable for comment.

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Fearing legal and underworld backlash, the director will now re-shoot and re-dub portions of his film with new names for his characters

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 30, 2013)

 

Sanjay Gupta has decided to modify certain portions of his upcoming film Shootout At Wadala in an attempt to put a lid on controversies and avoid getting into legal tangles.

Produced by Ekta Kapoor, the film is based on S Hussain Zaidi’s book Dongri to Dubai, which is a story that revolves around ‘gangster’ Manya Surve.

A few days back, retired ACP Isaque Bagwan, who had headed Surve’s encounter at Wadala in January 1982, claimed that the film contained factual errors and pointed out that Surve was only a small-time crook and not a smuggler and assassin as depicted in the film. The veteran cop also warned that such depictions were sure to open up old wounds which might even lead to gang wars on the streets.

Following this, as per the advice of his lawyers, Gupta has decided to play safe and change the names of all the characters in his movie, except Surve, whose character has been essayed by John Abraham.

Explaining his decision, Gupta said: “I don’t want to get into legal disputes with people who are directly or indirectly associated with the film. We have decided to change the names of Isaque Bagwan, Haji Mastan, Dawood Ibrahim, Sabir and several other key characters in the film. Also, we will have to re-shoot several close ups and re-dub certain portions.”

Balaji Motion Pictures CEO Tanuj Garg also confirmed the news and said: “Certain precautions have been taken to avoid legal issues.”

Shootout At Wadala is the prequel to 2007 film Shootout at Lokhandwala, produced by Sanjay Gupta and directed by Apoorva Lakhia.

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