The colour khaki just got its deepest shade possible. Salman Khan's Dabangg cop is about to meet its match. In what promises to be the most challenging role of Sanjay Dutt's career the actor is all set to play Thakur Pritam Singh a zamindar-turned-cop from Bulandshahr from Uttar Pradesh who is a legend in his own right, even 13 years after died in a violent shootout.
Known as the badshah of Bulandshahr Thakur Pritam Singh was notorious for his unorthdox ways of dealing with criminals. He would make criminals shoot down criminals rather than doing the dirty job himself. This spared the fearless law-man a sure transfer from the area.
Dutt who has played filmy cops before, is gearing up for the challenge of playing his first real-life character in Zilla Ghaziabad and that too one whose iconoclastic law-enforcement methods are regarded as a textboox of anti-establishment policing.
The Dutt will change his entire look for the cop's part. He will resemble Thakur Pritam Singh in hair, body language, clothes and attitude.
Confirming Dutt's first attempt at method acting the film's producer Vinod Bachchan says, "Sanjay Dutt is very excited about the character and his unorthodox ways of dealing with criminals.
It is true that Thakur Pritam Singh would line up criminals and have them shot by criminals. Sanjay will play the character with all unconventional working methods. We aren't sparing any of the violent details. My director Anand Kumar and I know the territory and the character only too well. "
Interestingly Pritam Singh was not fond of Sanjay Dutt during his lifetime. Legend has it that the cop would go ballistic when local boys of his town would emulate the deadly Dutt.
Laughs the producer Bachchan, "That's true. When Khalnaayak was released in Bulundshahr local boys grew their hair to shoulder-length like Sanjay Dutt. Pritam Singh had lined them up and forced them to have a haircut. "
This interesting twist whereby the actor and the real-life character seem to share dichotomous sensibilities will be fully tapped in Zilla Ghaziabad, as would be the obvious similarities of mileu and the hero's character between Salman Khan in Dabangg and Sanjay Dutt in Zilla Ghaziabad.
The producer admits there are stiking similarities between the two films and characters. "But our film will go far beyond Dabangg in conveying the brutality of the hinterland. Chulbul Pandey was a fictional character . Pritam Singh was real. And his methods of nabbing criminals are legendary in the area. "
News that Sanjay Dutt will be playing the legendary cop has spread in and around Bulandshahr. The makers of the film have shifted the location from Uttar Pradesh to Wai in Maharashtra which often masquerades as Bihar and UP in Hindi films.
"It would be impossible to shoot with Sanjay Dutt in the actual location. But we do plan to shoot a portion of the film in Ghaziabad, " informs Bachchan.
The shooting starts on July. Sanjay Dutt's preparation starts now.
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