I want to regain lost ground: Sanjay Gupta

Yes, it's official. Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta will begin filming the sequel to his very popular movie Shootout At Lokhandwala by the year end and has named it Shootout At Wadala. And the good news for loyalists of his style of film-making is that this one promises to be an extension of the thrill and chill of his last outing.

"I'd call Shootout At Wadala a sequel to Shootout At Lokhandwala in spirit, but the story will be different. In fact, most of the characters from the first film had died so this one will have an entirely new star cast with none of the old faces," Gupta informs.

Since the likes of Vivek Oberoi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rohit Roy, Suniel Shetty, Sanjay Dutt were a part of the first film, what needs to be seen is who Gupta zeroes in on this time around.

A very Mumbai-centric film, quiz Gupta — why Wadala — and he replies, "Since 1992, Mumbai has seen as many as 820 encounters with about 1,200 deaths. In fact, we've come to such a state now that the news of an encounter fails to shock us anymore. What I want to delve into is from where and why this barbaric act started. Research says that the first ever encounter by the Mumbai Police, commonly known to be the second best force in the world, happened at Wadala."

While the film is at its final stages of scripting, Gupta, who has been off the industry radar for a few years now, is keen on making a worthy comeback. "I directed a part of Dus Kahaniyaan in 2007 and since then, focused on my role as producer. My production house suffered quite a bit during recession and has yet to recover. It's time to regain lost ground. I'm yearning to get back to direction right now," he confesses.