Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta was planning star-studded web series before death
The director was working on an eight-part adaptation of the true crime book CIU: Criminals in Uniform.
Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta was preparing an eight-part web series based on the true crime book CIU: Criminals in Uniform before his death on October 30, according to a Times of India report. Gupta, aged 57, died at his Mumbai residence in Versova after suffering a fatal head injury during an accidental fall.
The investigative journalists who wrote the book, Dr Sanjay Singh and Rakesh Trivedi, had been in discussions with the director. Dr Singh said Gupta had held meetings and created a pitch deck for the project, which aimed to be one of the most star-studded series in India.
Gupta was in talks with several actors including Anil Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Akshaye Khanna, Emraan Hashmi, Atul Kulkarni, Mahesh Manjrekar, and Ronit Bose Roy. In the proposed series, Kapoor was to play the Mumbai Police Commissioner, Shah a bureaucrat, Khanna an Assistant Commissioner of Police, and Hashmi a senior inspector.
The story is a fictionalised version of the 2021 Antilia incident involving explosives found near a businessman's home. Dr Singh noted that Gupta understood the sensitivity of the subject and believed the book had potential for a gripping series.
The director, whose 32-year career included films such as Kaante and Kaabil, also intended to revisit the 1978 Ranga-Billa case. Dr Singh stated that Gupta felt there was still potential to create a factually accurate series on the duo.