Ram Gopal Verma confirms 'Sarkar 3' with Big B

The writer-director confirms that Sarkar 3 is on course, will be shot in Mumbai and London and won't feature Abhishek or Aishwarya.

On Monday, Ram Gopal Varma unveiled the trailer of his upcoming film, Veerappan, which follows Asia's largest manhunt ever to capture sandalwood smuggler and bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan. It was received with gushing praise. But the industry's thumbs up didn't matter until RGV's favourite actor, Amitabh Bachchan, shared the trailer and a rave review with his enthusiastic 20 million followers on Twitter: "It's not the dubbed version, it's a 'Remade in Hindi' version. Dynamic! Watch it..."

The National Award-winning director who has been patiently waiting to re-unite with the Big B couldn't have been happier. Apart from the hit Sarkar franchise, the actor-director have also worked together in Darna Zaroori Hai, Nishabdh, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, Rann andDepartment.

On April 7, on RGV's 54th birthday, Bachchan had visited the filmmaker's new office in Versova, called Company, checking out every nook and cranny. Ramu described it as his "real awesome moment" and the visit had fanned speculations about the two joining hands for Sarkar 3. When Mirror got in touch with Bachchan, he responded, "Yes, I did visit Ram Gopal Varma at his new 'Company' and among the many things we talked about, one was Sarkar 3."

Modelled on the life of late politician Bal Thackeray, the 2005 film had followed Bachchan in a Godfathersque avatar, as Subhash 'Sarkar' Nagre, with Abhishek Bachchan playing his son, Shankar. After a three-year-break, they were back with a sequel, with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan playing Anita Rajan. While Sr. Bachchan was tight-lipped about the third instalment to his thriller-franchise, his director was excited to reveal that he is ready to roll with it, eight years after Sarkar Raj, and is gearing up to shoot in London and Mumbai. "I am as excited as a teenager on his first date because I take Sarkar 3 as an opportunity to redeem, reinvent and redefine myself," he exulted, adding that at the moment Sr Bachchan and he are together fine-tuning the script. "Since it's a 10-year-old-franchise, it's a lot of work. We are keeping the essence of 'Sarkar' intact but are working on updating the issues. Amitji will be styled pertinent to today's fashion trends."

The writer-director further informed that neither of the Bachchans from Sarkar and Sarkar Raj will be back in Part 3. "Abhishek's character died in the second film, Aishwarya too won't be a part of Sarkar 3. The film will focus on Sarkar's life with a completely new set of characters who were not a part of the earlier films," RGV asserted.