Filmmakers relieved as Sanjay Dutt gets extension

Mumbai: Filmmakers were today relieved after the Supreme Court granted Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt four weeks time to surrender but they felt that he should have been given more time to complete his pending projects.

A day before the deadline for his surrender ended, Dutt was given partial relief from the Supreme Court. The apex court granted him four weeks time on "humanitarian" grounds to surrender before jail authorities to undergo 42 months remaining sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. Dutt had sought six months time from the Supreme Court to surrender so he can finish pending work on seven movies, including big-budget projects like filmmaker Raju Hirani`s `Peekay`, `Zanjeer` and others. A total of over Rs 278 crore is riding on him. Dutt plays the role of a police officer in T P Agarwal`s `Policegiri` and requires almost a week to complete this project. "We would require him for three-four days for the patch-up work of the film, two-three days for dubbing," producer T P Agarwal said. "It is good that he got extension... But I think he should have got two-three months time for all his pending projects," he said. In Apoorva Lakhia`s remake version of `Zanjeer`, Dutt plays the role of `Sher Khan`, immortalised by veteran actor Pran in the original film. "We would require seven days from him for the film. In a way the decision of the Supreme Court is a relief to all of us," Lakhia said. For Karan Johar`s `Ungli`, Dutt will have to give 12 days of time. "We would approximately require him for 10 to 12 days as we have a few scenes to shoot, a song and dubbing," a senior official from Dharma Productions said. Director Raj Kumar Hirani said that he would require eight days from Dutt to complete shoot on `Peekay`. For Agarwal`s `Vasooli` he has shot very little. "He had shot for four days for the film sometime back. We don`t want to talk much about this project," Agarwal said. The fate of Dutt`s other films like `Takrar`, `Sher` remains uclear now. However, the makers have announced that the third installment of `Munnabhai Chale Delhi` will be shot only after Dutt returns from jail. Director Apoorva Lakhia and producer Rahul Agarwal today met Dutt at his residence in suburban Bandra. PTI