BOMBAY: The arrest of film star Sanjay Dutt has sent shock waves through the city’s film industry as a vast sum of money, roughly estimated to be in the region of about Rs, 60 crore, has been pumped into about 18 films starring him, The most affected films which are under various stages of completion are Subhash Ghai’s ‘Khal Nayak’ (costarring Madhuri Dixit and Jackie Shroff) and Ramesh Talwar’s *Saahiban’ (also costarring Madhuri Dixit and Rishi Kapoor). These films were on the verge of release. In fact industry sources reveal that Ghai was to have completed the shooting of “Khal Nayak’ within three days of Sanjay’s return from Mauritius. Sanjay Dutt was in Mauritius on a shooting assignment for G P Sippy’s ‘Aatish’ when one of the persons arrested in connection with the bomb blasts in the city revealed to the~ police that he had sold an AKS6 rifle to the star.

Though Sanjay initially denied the allegation, after he was detained by the city police for interrogation, he admitted that he had possessed an AK56 rifle, He was supposed to have extended his stay in Mauritius for the shooting of the film *Andolan’ but the schedule of that film was upset after the death of his costar Divya Bharthi.

Among some of the films that are in an advanced stage of production and will be affected by Sanjay’s arrest are Yash Johar’s‘Gumraah’ (costarring Sridevi and Rahul Roy), G P Sippy’s “Aatish’ (costarring Raveena Tandon), Sajid Nadiadwala’s Andolan’ (costarring Govinda and Somy Ali) and Bobby Raaj’s ‘Zamaane Se Kya Darna (costarring Raveena Tandon).

Most of the producers and directors involved in making Sanjay Dutt starrers declined to comment on the arrest as they are badly shaken. A spokesman for Film Makers Combine termed his arrest as a sad episode and hoped that the police investigation will reveal the truth.

Sanjay Dust’s arrest has also made the success of films like “Kshatriya’ and Kanoon Apna Apna’ an uncertainty as some political organizations had threatened to disrupt films starring him if the allegations against him turned out to be true, Sanjay’s confession has put these films in a jeopardy.

Sanjay Dutt Jaunched his film career with ‘Rocky’ in the mid80’s but it was Mahesh Bhatt’s Naam’ that helped him establish himself as an actor. Initially not many roles came his way due to his alleged addiction to drugs but within a couple of years he emerged as a leading star.

Sanjay tasted resounding success with ‘Saajan’ and Sadak’. His demand amongst the producers skyrocketed after these films and he was quoting about Rs 40 1045 lakh per film. He was the hot favorite of big time commercial film makers like Mahesh Bhatt, G P Sippy, Subhash Ghai and Sultan Ahmed.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 7, 1993