Producers of Sanjay Dutt’s films are relieved after the Supreme Court granted the actor four weeks time to surrender for the remaining period of his sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
Policegiri producer TP Aggarwal said, “Of course, it’s a great relief for all of us. Now he has a month’s time to finish his projects. There was some more work pending, like patch work and dubbing. I will speak to Sanjay and we will start the work within the next two days.”
“I am glad that we don’t have to hurry up to finish all the work now. It will take two to three days for patch work and around two days for the dubbing,” he added.
Sentenced for five years for possessing weapons illegally during the 1993 Mumbai riots, Sanjay, 53, wanted six more months to surrender to complete his projects, which are worth INR2.78 billion.
The actor has already spent 18 months in jail and has to undergo the remaining three-and-a-half-year sentence. The Supreme Court on March 21 granted Sanjay four weeks — ending April 18 — to surrender. Upholding his conviction under the Arms Act, the court had reduced his sentence from six to five years.
Director Raj Kumar Hirani too was left to shoot with Sanjay for eight days for PK, which also stars Aamir Khan.
A source close to the team of PK revealed, “The scheduling is not yet done. We will schedule the dates for the shoot with Sanjay Dutt soon.”
Besides Policegiri and PK, Sanjay is also part of Karan Johar’s Unglee.
Aggarwal feels that Sanjay will manage to wrap his films up, but he will miss the promotions of his projects.
“Yes, his absence during all the promotional activities will affect the films, but we will come up with a solution. Let’s finish the shooting first,” he said.
Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh also agrees that “there is a relief for the producers to finish their projects with Sanjay Dutt”.
Unglee, Policegiri and Zanjeer are slated to come out this year, while PK may hit the big screen some time next year.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2013.
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