All in a month

FILMS: Sanjay Dutt's release may spell relief for producers waiting to finish their ventures with him.

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's release on Tuesday after he was granted bail from the Supreme Court signals a ray of hope for production house Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision.

Dutt, who was given a six-year jail term in the 1993 serial blasts case by a special court led by Judge P D Kode on August 1, was taken into custody soon after the hearing. By the latest order, he will remain out of jail till the time TADA court furnishes him a copy of the judgement, and this is likely to take over a month.

According to industry sources, the production house is hoping to complete the shooting of its film Kidnap, directed by Sanjay Gadhvi of Dhoom fame, while Dutt is out on bail.

Currently, Dutt has three films waiting in the wings. Two of these films, Kidnap and Mr Fraud (directed by Abbas-Mustan), fall under the Ashtavinayak banner while the third "" Alibaug (with filmmaker Sanjay Gupta) "" is under Sanjay Dutt's home production.

"Kidnap is on the priority list of both the production house and Sanjay Dutt. Therefore, Dutt is likely to resume shooting of the film in the coming days," said a source.

Kidnap, with a budget of around Rs 25 crore, is 60 per cent complete. However, the other two films Mr Fraud, with a budget of nearly Rs 20 crore, and Alibaug, with a budget of close to Rs 12 crore, have not reached even 50 per cent completion.

Consequently, these have been put on hold. The actor's conviction could lead to a loss of Rs 20-25 crore for producers whose films are under production.

Dhamaal, a comedy flick starring Sanjay Dutt, directed by Indra Kumar, is slated for release in September. The rushes of the film are already on air.

Other filmmakers, too, had announced plans to feature the actor in their forthcoming projects but had not commenced shooting as they were waiting for the verdict.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the filmmaker responsible for bringing together Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi in Munnabhai MBBS and its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai, is one among the several producers who had announced plans to work with Dutt. Chopra, for one, had announced his plans to release another sequel Munnabhai Chale America. But that has to wait for now.