Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Gupta passed away on October 30. He was preparing to make an ambitious web series based on investigative journalist Sanjay Singh’s book ‘Criminals in Uniform’. He was going to debut on OTT with this project. The names of actors like Akshay Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Dia Mirza, Ronit Roy and Mahesh Manjrekar were decided in the series. However, there were many difficulties in taking the project forward. While talking to Dainik Bhaskar, Sanjay Singh told about the first meeting with Sanjay Gupta, preparation for the dream project, pressure on the film industry and OTT and the plans that remained incomplete. Here are the highlights of the conversation… Question: How did you first meet Sanjay Gupta? How did the making of the web series on ‘Criminals in Uniform’ begin? Answer: I had written the book ‘Criminals in Uniform’ i.e. CIU. The book became very popular and it also received the Sahitya Akademi Award. We were also thinking that an OTT series should be made on this. Meanwhile, Sanjay Gupta’s eyes fell on the book. One day he went to the famous book store ‘Kitabkhana’ in South Mumbai with his son. There he saw the book, read a few pages and bought it. Went home and read the whole book. The next morning he asked his team to find and contact both the writers. Amit Anshu, who looked after PR work in their team, contacted us. We went to meet him and within just 24 hours Sanjay Gupta finalized the entire deal. He liked the story of the book very much. In this, a vehicle filled with explosives is found outside the house of the country’s richest industrialist. Later, the only person associated with that vehicle is murdered. Investigation reveals that some people from the police were involved in this case. Sanjay Gupta was looking for a similar story. Question: How was your experience working with Sanjay Gupta? Answer: Sanjay Gupta had very deep knowledge of the underworld and the world of crime. He used to read books related to crimes and underworld not only in Mumbai but all over the world. Very few filmmakers will be found who have this much knowledge of crime. We journalists often feel that people from the film industry understand a subject superficially, but this was not at all the case with Sanjay Gupta. I also got to learn a lot from my conversation with him. He used to pay attention to small things. During our first meeting he had read a paragraph written in my book about the Old Monk. I write a paragraph for Old Monk in every book I write. He had ordered Old Monk in advance. At the end of the meeting, I told that I had read in your book that you write about this, so I had ordered it. This reveals his habit of paying attention to details. Question: What was Sanjay Gupta’s plan for this web series? Its star cast was also quite big. Answer: Sanjay Gupta wanted to make his debut on OTT on a big scale. He prepared a pitch deck based on the book, which contained information about the series’ episodes and cast. Seeing this, I and my co-author Rakesh Dwivedi were surprised. Akshay Khanna was to play the lead character in the series. Naseeruddin Shah was to play the role of National Security Advisor and Anil Kapoor was to play the role of Police Commissioner Mahavir. Dia Mirza, Ronit Roy, Mahesh Manjrekar and Atul Kulkarni were also going to be a part of it. Sanjay Gupta wanted that the Indian OTT audience had never seen such a big star cast in any series before. He said that every episode will be shot like a film. He had also written the script of the first two episodes and emailed it to me. They didn’t want to rush it. He said that this will be the most ambitious project of his life, which will be prepared on a large scale taking full time. Question: Was this series going to be a part of any franchise named ‘Scandal’? Answer: Yes, Sanjay Gupta had plans to start a franchise named ‘Scandal’. Under this, seasons were to be made based on different incidents and true stories. They chose our book ‘Criminals in Uniform’ for the first season. OTT platforms often ask on which story the next season will be made if the first season is successful. In this connection, Sanjay Gupta used to ask us to write the second part of CIU. Question: What event did they want to work on for the second season of CIU? Answer: They wanted to make a second season on the drugs case related to Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan. At that time, Aryan Khan’s arrest and the incidents related to it were much discussed. Sanjay Gupta believed that there were many interesting aspects in this case. They wanted us to write CIU Part-2 and give its rights to them first and write the book later. We had not even started writing on that book, so this was surprising. He used to say that he will also talk to Shahrukh Khan on this matter and will share his entire screenplay with him, so that both sides of the story can come out correctly. Question: Did Sanjay Gupta take the rights of your other books also? Answer: Yes, he had also taken the rights of our another book ‘Ranga-Billa’. This book has recently been published from HarperCollins under the name ‘Ranga-Billa: Nation Ambush’. My co-author Rajiv Santhanam has played an important role in writing it. He is a senior journalist and was reporting at the time of the Ranga-Billa incident in 1978. He also interviewed underworld don Haji Mastan in 1974. His reporting in the Ranga-Billa case was very important. He had discovered and published the photograph of Ranga-Billa, which revealed his identity and helped in his capture. Sanjay Gupta believed that people know about the Ranga-Billa incident, but very little is known about the full story behind it and its connections with Mumbai’s underworld. Question: Was your book ‘Criminals in Uniform’ inspired by the incident of a vehicle full of explosives being found outside Antilia? Answer: No journalist or writer can keep himself away from the events happening around him. We do journalism, so our stories are inspired by real events. However, we had given a clear disclaimer in the book that its characters are not based on real people. We also kept a bookmark that pointed out the differences between the characters and real police officers. The police commissioner of the book is not Mahavir Tomar Parambir Singh. Encounter specialist Dilip Verma is not Pradeep Sharma. Nithya Shetty is not Daya Nayak and Yatin Sathe is not Sachin Waje. The story was inspired by real events, but the characters were fictional. Question: When you got the news of Sanjay Gupta’s demise on October 30, what was your first reaction? Answer: At first I couldn’t believe it. One of our friends is involved in film production. The name of his company is also Old Monk. He first gave me this news by messaging me. I told him to confirm once. After this I called my co-author Rakesh Dwivedi. He also collected information from different places. It was very sad when the news was confirmed. This was not the age for him to leave. We kept talking to him and there was no feeling regarding his health that he would go away so soon. The time spent with him will always be remembered. Question: Did Sanjay Gupta feel any kind of pressure while working on this project? Answer: Yes, he talked about this more than once. We journalists are a little impatient when we write books. He used to meet him and ask how far the project has progressed, when it will start and when it will be released. On this he used to say that you do not understand the dynamics of the film industry. There is a lot of pressure on this project. He once said that the country’s richest man, powerful police officers and influential politicians are all connected to this story in some way or the other. He also said that the pressure is not only on him, but also on the OTT platforms and artists. Question: Do you think this pressure might have affected his health as well? Answer: Medically understanding the impact of stress on a person’s health is a different matter. But it definitely has an impact at the mental level. Imagine, a filmmaker is making the most ambitious project of his life. He may have planned a big star cast and worked hard, but despite this the project is not progressing. In such a situation it is natural to feel disappointment, anger and frustration. It was like this with Sanjay Gupta also. He used to speak his mind openly. After meeting him, he would start talking on these issues after some time. Question: Did he tell on which OTT platform he wanted to release this series? Answer: He had specifically mentioned two platforms – Sony Liv and Netflix. However, they were also talking to other platforms. He wanted to make a big budget series. Did not want to make any project in a makeshift manner in a small budget. His action sequences were also of great level. OTT platforms have to consider budget and other aspects, so it was taking time to take the project forward. Question: Do OTT platforms also feel pressure on such sensitive topics? Answer: Absolutely. You might remember that there was a lot of controversy regarding the ‘Tandav’ web series. After that OTT platforms became cautious about content based on political topics. When there is controversy regarding any one series, other platforms also become alert. They feel that something like this might happen to them too. There are many challenges in making a film on such subjects. OTT platforms, artists, film industry and filmmakers all face different types of pressure. Sanjay Gupta knew that this topic was sensitive, yet he wanted to work on it. This requires courage. Question: After the demise of Sanjay Gupta, has there been any discussion with his team or family regarding the future of this project? Answer: No, it would not be right to talk about this right now. This incident has happened recently. When such a loss occurs in a family, at that time things like films, OTT and web series do not matter. Only after some time has passed can one think about what to do next. At present, it is more important to understand the grief of the family and respect them. Question: Which thing about Sanjay Gupta will you remember the most? Answer: Sanjay Gupta was an encyclopedia of crime in himself. He had so many stories and information related to crime and the underworld that you could sit and talk with him for hours. Once I talked to him on narcotics. He also had deep knowledge about different drugs and their effects. He was a treasure trove of stories and information in himself. There are very few people in the Hindi film industry who understand the underworld and action so deeply. The artists who worked with him wanted to work with him again and again. He used to mingle with people easily. Meeting him it never felt as if we were talking to a big man from the film world. They talked normally. Question: You had also brought out an old audio tape related to Sanjay Gupta, Sanjay Dutt and Mahesh Manjrekar. Tell me something about this. Answer: This is around 2003-04. At that time, an audio tape of a phone conversation between Sanjay Dutt, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sanjay Gupta and another person was widely discussed. At that time I used to work in NDTV. I was the first to discover that audio tape and show it on TV. About 20 years later, when I met Sanjay Gupta for the first time in connection with ‘Criminals in Uniform’, I myself told him that I had brought out that audio tape. I thought that maybe he would feel bad about this. But Sanjay Gupta took it in a normal manner. He said that he had no special role in that conversation. There the phone was forcibly handed over to him and he was just saying yes and ending the conversation. Despite knowing about such an old matter, he did not let it affect his relationship with me. I will always remember this. Question: Did you meet Sanjay Dutt also? Answer: Yes, but that meeting was not in connection with any project of Sanjay Gupta. I have been a crime reporter. Sanjay Dutt was in Arthur Road Jail after the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. During that time we had to go there to cover the court proceedings. Sanjay Dutt was also an accused in that case, so they met several times during his appearance and court related activities. Question: When was your last conversation with Sanjay Gupta? Answer: My last conversation with him was a few months ago. At that time, a web series named ‘Rakh’ was released, which was based on a story related to the underworld. Since Sanjay Gupta already had the rights of our book, there was a discussion on what to do next. He believed that many things shown in ‘Rakh’ were not factually correct. He was well aware of the facts of the matter and had full confidence in the story of our book. He wanted the entire story behind the Ranga-Billa incident to reach the people. He told me to give him a copy when the book was published. Now the book has been published, but Sanjay Gupta is no longer among us. This thing will always be missed. Question: When and what was the last conversation with him regarding ‘Criminals in Uniform’? Answer: There were talks about this project, but due to pressure they were not able to find a way to take it forward. They were very excited to make it and were working very hard. He was a very passionate filmmaker. He had full confidence in the story, but several external circumstances were probably preventing the project from moving forward. It is a matter of regret that we could not see the completion of the project for which he had planned so much.
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संजय गुप्ता का ओटीटी प्रोजेक्ट रह गया अधूरा: ‘स्कैंडल’ में अनिल कपूर, अक्षय खन्ना और नसीरुद्दीन शाह, सीक्वल में आर्यन खान की कहानी की थी तैयारी
