Sushant Singh Rajput and Bhumi Pednekar to play Chambal dacoits in Udta Punjab director’s next

There was a time when dacoit sagas were a rage in Bollywood with movies like Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hair, Mother India and of course, Sholay. However, as Bollywood began to move into the new millennium, the genre began to die out with the only notable movies worth racking our brains over being Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen, Om Puri’s China Gate and Aamir Khan’s Mela. By the second decade of the 21st century, the genre is almost extinct, when Abhishek Chaubey, the director of Ishqiya and Udta Punjab, is planning to revive the same in his next. And he has roped in Sushant Singh Rajput and Bhumi Pednekar to play dacoits in the movie!

Sushant’s involvement in the movie, which is based in Chambal – dacoit’s favourite hunting ground – in the ’70s, was confirmed way back in May, while Bhumi is the new addition. As per a report in Mumbai Mirror, a source close to the project told them this, “Like Sushant, Bhumi too plays a dacoit. She plays his love interest and gave the nod a month ago. The film will be shot in the Chambal ravines and will roll early next year. Abhishek and his team have already begun scouting for locations.” The shooting will start by the year end, and the team plans to complete it before March 2018.

Sudip Sharma, who is writing the movie along with the director, had earlier spoken to the newspaper about the project, saying “Some of them have more than 80 murder charges on them. Everyone has heard horror stories about the dacoits of Chambal but I’ve realised the reality is quite different from what Hindi films portray. We aim to capture that reality.”

The film will be produced by Ronnie Screwvala. Watch this space for more updates about the project.