Sanjay Gupta’s dream project "Alibaug" was on hold for many months because of Sanjay Dutt but they restarted the shoot on July 8 with Irrfan Khan replacing Sanjay Dutt.
Says Gupta, "It’s sad that Sanjay is not a part of my film. I had written the film only for him but fate did not approve it. But now I have started shooting in a new way. Alibaug is my personal film and so I had to finish the film. Hence I decided to take Irrfan Khan. Frankly speaking I wasn’t looking for a big star like Sanjay Dutt and I’m very grateful that a great performer like Irrfan accepted the role."
On Irrfan, he adds, "He’s also a good human being. We spoke about the film 5-6 months ago and I’m very happy with his performance in both Acid Factory and Alibaug. I needed to re-shoot about 10-12 days of Sanjay’s portion and I’m glad that after the shoot of Acid Factory he started shooting the Sanjay Dutt’s portion again."
Was it difficult to re-arrange everything again? "Yes but all my actors who are my friends supported me a lot and I think shooting for Alibaug is similar to those years when I met with an accident. I really don’t want to recall things as it disturbs me a lot while the shooting of the film is going on. Within 2 months it will be finished and I think by early 2009 the film will get released."
Alibaug is Gupta’s most personal film. It deals with the time four years ago when he almost perished in a car accident. Dutt was slated to play a character based on Gupta. He waited for 2 years for Dutt’s approval but now Gupta is making the film without Sanju baba.
