On May 15 Pune's hippest club, The Corinthian, was to witness the opulent mahurat for Dus. The event was producer Nitin Manmohan's tribute to late filmmaker Mukul Anand (Hum, Khuda Gawah, Agneepath).
Anand had barely begun shooting for Dus when he passed away from a massive heart attack. The film -- which starred Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon and Shilpa Shetty and had raised huge expectations -- was eventually scrapped.
Though the new Dus is a tribute to Anand and has Shilpa and Sanjay in the lead, it has a new plot based on the goings-on in an anti-terrorist cell.
"I would like to call it an 'intrigue' film, though I would not classify it as a murder mystery or a 'whodunit'. We were looking around for a title when Nitin Manmohan told me he had a name registered that fit our story. That's how our film was christened Dus," said director Anubhav Sinha who has Tum Bin and Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai to his credit.
"It has a lot of action. It is in a different genre from my earlier films. Hollywood stunt director Gary Baxley (Lethal Weapon) will coordinate the fight sequences," he added.
"Sanjay [Dutt] and I are the only members from the earlier Dus to star in this film too. In Anandji's film I was the sutradhar, the narrator, playing the role of a journalist," said Shilpa Shetty, who made a pretty picture in a black fitting dress.
"In [the new] Dus I play Aditi. It's a tough role. She is a tough character. Anubhav told me I am 'really one of the guys'. I was keen to work with Anubhav after seeing Tum Bin. What I really like about him is that he is so sure of his characterisations," she added.
Zayed Khan essays the role of Aditya, a super undercover agent who "plays with life and death everyday."
"It's sort of Mission Impossible 2 meets Lethal Weapon. It's a humorous take on life-and-death situations. There are so many people I admire working in this film that it was a no-brainer for me to make my decision to work with Sinha," said the young Khan, who is high on the success of Main Hoon Na.
Dus also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Raima Sen who were caught up in shoots and unable to attend the muhurat.
Pankaj Kapur, who came up with a spectacular performance in Maqbool and is known to sign only one film a year, has been roped in too, much to Sinha's delight.
The film, which is scripted by Yash and Vinay, will have music scored Vishal and Shekhar.
Co-produced by Balaji Entertainment International, the film's launch had a diverse guest list that included Adlab's Manmohan Shetty [who both produces and distributes films besides owning two multiplexs in Mumbai; he also has one of Mumbai's finest post-production facilities] to filmmaker Feroz Khan to politician Amar Singh to costume designer Anna Singh.
Singh, who had flown in especially for the event despite the hectic political turmoil in the capital, conducted the proceedings at the mahurat. In keeping with the spirit of the evening, he broke an egg instead of the auspicious coconut to signal the commencement of the film.
The film went on the floors on May 16. The first schedule began at Mumbai's Elphinstone College and will be followed by an outdoor shoot in Canada.
After a spectacular display of fireworks, Sinha and his cast -- Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Zayed Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Esha Deol, Gulshan Grover, Javed Sheikh -- took centre stage.
The function also saw the launch of Shades, an eyewear retail chain that has Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty and Nitin Manmohan as co-directors.
