With the Supreme Court awarding a five-year sentence to Sanjay Dutt in 1993 serial blasts case, rumour mills are now abuzz with the amount of money at stake on Bollywood projects involving the actor.
According to trade analysts, around Rs 250 crore are riding on Sanjay Dutt who will have to undergo a term of three-and-a-half-years after the apex court today upheld his conviction for illegal possession of arms in the blasts case.
"As per the back-of-the-envelope calculations, around Rs 250 crore are riding on Sanjay, involved in various projects. These projects include big ticket upcoming movies 'Peekay', 'Policegiri', 'Zanjeer', 'Ungli' among others," a source revealed.
Among the upcoming projects involving the 53-year-old actor is 'Ungli', produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, also starring Emraan Hashmi and Neha Dhupia.
When contacted, a top source at Dharma Productions said, "Bollywood is distraught over the SC judgement. The shooting of 'Ungli' concerning Sanjay Dutt's part is complete and only some portion of it is remaining to be completed".
He, however, refused to share the amount of money at stake on Sanjay in the project.
Among other projects having Sanjay on board is "Zanjeer", directed by Apoorva Lakhia. Sanjay is reprising the role of Sher Khan epitomised by veteran actor Pran in the original movie.
According to sources, around Rs 50-60 crore are at stake in 'Zanjeer', while Rs 25 crore on 'Policegiri', which is the remake of a South movie. Sanjay is starring opposite Prachi Desai in the film.
"We have completed shooting for 'Zanjeer'. The verdict is shocking and I feel shattered. I am not worried about his (Sanjay's) presence for post-production and other formalities... My concern is that he fights back," Producer Amit Mehra told PTI.
