Sanjay Gupta has been in the entertainment industry for years now. Once a close friend of Sanjay Dutt, he became the favourite of the gossip mongers when Dutt and he split. But recently they decided to bury the hatchet and move on at Big B’s 70 birthday bash. As Gupta gears up for his next release, Shootout At Wadala (SAW), we caught up with him for a candid chat. Excerpts: You’ve fought a lot of negativity. You were made to seem like a fraudulent wheeler-dealer. How has the experience affected your life? At the end of the day, the truth was bound to come out. There was so much mud being hurled at me. I saw no point in defending myself. If I call you a crook, which you obviously are not, you would look compromised if you protested. I’ve now finished my film. And I’ve realized my world revolves around my son and the two women in my life. Your wife, and who’s the other woman? Ekta Kapoor, of course. She has been a pillar of strength. When all my so-called friends walked out on me, she walked in, despite warnings from her friends who wondered why she was getting into this. I worked hard on Shootout At Wadala as gratitude to Ekta and my wife Anu. I owe them a good film. I need to nourish and nurture my relationship with Ekta and Anu. I’ve never felt so calm and settled. The day I held my son in my arms I realized what I valued the most. Every morning when I see him I feel my life is worth living. I am beyond caring about the people who attack me. What are the lessons you’ve learnt in the past few years? You need to know who your friends are. And you need to work for at least a year on scripting. Earlier I didn’t care. And it showed in my work. After I wrote my script getting the actors was a piece of cake. But you had to fight to get your actors? That was because they were being warned not to do my film, not because they didn’t believe in my script. At the end of the day, your work is all that counts. I fought all the negativity purely with my work. I moved to Khandala, wrote a fantastic script and then got down to making my film. Ekta and my wife had blind faith in me. Suddenly a lot of doors opened for me. Today nothing that my enemies do can affect me. Speaking of your enemies, they aren’t doing too well for themselves? That was bound to be. They spent more time and energy on pulling me down than getting their act together. I feel sorry for them. The world can be a wonderful place if you want it to be. Earlier why did you do so many rip-offs of Hollywood films? Were you being lazy? I wasn’t being lazy. There was a reason for it. I had to make my films with a star. Maybe a Karan Johar can make a film without a star because he is the star of his projects. I needed star support. And we all know who’s the star I made most of my films with. Sanjay Dutt? Yes, I stuck to one star, and that star only agreed to do my films when I offered Hollywood remakes to him. He only believed in foreign films. When I made a film without him called Hamesha with Saif and Kajol that was a hundred percent original. My stories in Dus Kahaniyan were original. My work was derivative when I didn’t know any better. When I started out in 1991 everyone was remaking foreign films. Today they are still doing it in spite of strict copyright laws. But no rip-offs for me. Nakal ke liye bhi akal chahiye. Being original now gives me a much a greater satisfaction. I am already planning my next Shootout which Hussain Zaidi will write for me. Which part of Mumbai would you take over with this one? I am just looking for a location that has a ‘la’ at the end. You’ve almost finished shooting your film Shootout At Wadala (SAW). How does it feel? There are only the three item songs to be shot. One of them is a Mujra and the other is a new version of the Ganpat song from Shootout At Lokhandawala. We’re looking for an A-lister actress doing a Chikni Chameli kind of number. I’ve left the decision entirely to Ekta. I am now heading into editing my film. I’ve got blinders on. I don’t give a shit about what others are doing, though I am thrilled to bits when Barfi, OMG and English Vinglish did well. When are you releasing Shootout At Wadala? You know, my wife and I are expecting our second child. The doctor gave us the date of 26 January (2013). That was supposed to be the week of my film’s release. Luckily for me, the release date of my film has been postponed to 1 May. And my baby is now coming on 21 January. Why is the release pushed so far ahead? Labour Day would give me a 5-day weekend. I need that much time to fight the censorboard. I will submit the film for censoring in December. I’d need time to fight them. You see that long a battle ahead with the censorboard? Yeah, the gangsters in my film give a lot of gaalis. In Delhi Belly we had students giving gaalis. The guys in my film come out of the gutter, so how would they be expected to talk? At the same time, let me tell you, my characters don’t abuse for effect. Anil Kapoor who plays Isaaq Bhagwan has not uttered a single expletive. This, despite the fact that we all know how much cops abuse. You’ve gone through three years of ordeal to complete SAW. Your thoughts? Relief that I completed the film within budget and schedule. My co-producer Ekta Kapoor is very happy. The courts have quashed the case regarding your mock-invitations sent out to the media from the police commissioner’s office? It had to be sorted out. The whole objection by the Mumbai police to what was primarily a joke, was ridiculous. They had an investigation van parked in front of my house for three days, as though I was f…g Charles Sobhraj. At that point of time there were 200 unsolved murder cases in the city of Mumbai. And they had time to stand outside my house with an investigation van? Amazing! Come on, get a life. Do you think that whole controversy was an attempt to sabotage your film? Most likely. I know for a fact that ‘some people’ were rejoicing when the cops were looking for me. SMS were sent expressing great happiness at my discomfort. I hope it made them feel better about their wretched existence. Can you imagine the bizarre timing of the whole controversy? It happened on the first day of my shooting, that’s 1 March 2012. I started shooting at 8.30 am. At 11 am I was informed the cops were on the look-out for me. Even after the honourable High Court quashed the charge, I had one police officer walk into my office suggesting, ‘Let’s do a settlement. Or we’ll go to the Supreme Court’. Then? I wasn’t in my office. My manager panicked and called. I told him to tell the police officer we’d see him in court. And yet I hold no grudges against the police department. My film shows the cops as true heroes. It would do for the police department what Top Gun did for the American airforce. After seeing SAW young people would want to become cops. I’ve portrayed cops as being as disciplined as army officers. What are the most important things in your life today? Family and money. I only want to secure my wife and child’s future. What happened to the crores that you were supposed to have siphoned off from your partnership with Sanjay Dutt? Oh that! I gave it all away to charity (laughs). Jokes aside, I’ve seen some tough times. I’ve sold two of my homes to pay off my creditors. Today I am debt-free. My conscience is clear. My regret is that I had bought a house in Goa for my wife and it had to be sold to pay my debts. But it’s okay. Now I value my money. I’ll buy her a home in Goa soon. What do you have to say about Vivek Oberoi not doing your film? I am very happy we had to throw him out. If Vivek hadn’t been chucked out I wouldn’t have got the wonderful man Sonu Sood to play Dawood. Sonu is such a great human being. Dawood should be happy that such a handsome actor playing him. The other surprise in my film is Kangna Ranaut. She has given a jaw-dropping performance. Your closing thoughts? It’s been a hard journey so far. But the real battle begins now.