The mummy’s curse-Amrita Singh

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Posted: 18 years ago

The mummy's curse

Slain gangster Maya Dolas's mother sues producer Sanjay Gupta for alleging that she encouraged her son to become a gangster, in his forthcoming film Shootout At Lokhandwala

The mother of the slain gangster Maya Dolas, played by Viviek Oberoi in Sanjay Gupta's Shoot-out At Lokhandwala, is up in arms against the film. Even before the film releases the true-life story of a group of gangsters who were gunned down by the Mumbai police force in 1991, has opened up a Pandora's box.

Reacting to an interview given to a city tabloid by Amrita Singh who plays Maya's mother, the real-life Maya Dolas's mom has sent Sanjay Gupta's production house White Feather an eloborate legal notice challenging Amrita's contention that the real-life Maya was encouraged by his mother to become a gangster.

Sanjay Gupta, in his forthright way, doesn't deny the latest devlopment vis-a-vis his volatile film. "It's a fact that the real Maya Dolas's aai (mother) has sent us a lengthy legal notice. She has reacted adversely to Amrita's interview, especially to the part that says she encouraged Maya to become the person that he was. My legal department is looking into her legal notice. I'd like to say in my film's defence that the lady hasn't seen the film," says Sanjay.

Amrita Singh plays Viviek Oberoi's mother in Shootout At Lokhandwala

Does Sanjay deny the fact that a lot of the events described are from the real-life gangsters' characters? He explains, "I don't deny that at all. Certainly we have taken extensively from real-life incidents surrounding the actual shout-out in 1991. But we've built on the real events and taken them into hypothetical situations. For instance, the cop in-charge A A Khan (played by Sanjay Dutt) is shown to have marital problems. The way we look at his life, the couple is on the verge of a break-up. Obviously no such thing happened in real life. We certainly don't want the real Mrs Khan to slap us with a legal notice."

Sanjay relates a funny incident that happened with Viviek Oberoi a few days ago. Carried away by the hype surrounding his portrayal of the real-life gangster Maya Dolas in Shoot-out At Lokhandwala, Viviek decided to take a large group of TV journalists and camera crew to meet the real Maya's mom.

On the way, Viviek's eyes fell on an interview in a tabloid with Amrita Singh who plays his mom in the film. "Viviek immediately decided to turn back. He knew there was going to be trouble from Maya's mom. And that's exactly what happened," adds Sanjay. Incidentally, if true, Shoot-out… wouldn't be the first film to show a mother supporting her son's gangsterism. Sanjay Gupta's first directorial venture Aatish did the same many years ago.