Ash-Sanjay for "Shabd"
- mid-day.com
After his many action hero roles, Sanjay Dutt has now signed on for something quite different.Dutt plays an award-winning writer in a dark thriller Shabd written and to be directed by debutante director Leena Yadav.
Dutt confirms that he has signed the film. “It’s a fantastic role.” Dutt is clearly excited. After Saajan (where he had played a poet) he is getting to perform something that is cerebrally different.
Producer Pritish Nandy (Pritish Nandy Communications) says that besides Dutt, Aishwarya Rai and Zayed Khan have also been signed for the film.
Rai plays Dutt’s second wife. Talking about the film Nandy says, “It’s all about how a writer and a journalist can control the world. The writer (Dutt), through his work, wife and environment, tries to control everything. Shabd is a mature, adult, clever, original story stylistically treated and could redefine the parameters of commercial Hindi cinema. It has all the ingredients of commercial cinema and yet is very cerebral.”
Leena Yadav is no novice at direction. She has directed TV programs like This Week That Day (Star Movies), Bestsellers (Star TV), Goonj (Sony), Sanjivani (Star) and co-owns a television software company with Nikhil Kapoor.
“Shabd means words. The film is all about how powerful words can be,” says Yadav. She adds that this film is completely character-driven and revolves around three very strong protagonists — the writer, his second wife and the professor (played by Dutt, Rai and Khan respectively) and “everybody else is incidental as there are no sub-tracks in the film. It’s difficult to put Shabd into a particular genre as it is a love story and yet a dark thriller with human drama.”
Rai's secretary Hari Singh confirmed, “Yes, we are committed to Shabd. PNC has approached us for a number of projects and Shabd is one of them.” Yadav says that Rai loved the script when it was narrated to her. “She found it totally mind-blowing and on the spot gave correct suggestions and touches to the character.”
Zayed Khan also confirmed his involvement. “Yes, I am doing Shabd. I play the role of a professor who is just out of college and trying to make a living.” Yadav adds, “Zayed is the exact opposite of what Sanju’s character is. He’s almost like his alter ego. Zayed is full of life and touches the lives of everybody he meets in a positive manner.”
The music directors of Shabd are Vishal-Shekhar (Jhankaar Beats) and the film is scheduled to go on the floors in June.
