Last month, it was reported that filmmaker Sanjay Gupta’s friend-turned-foe, actor-producer Sanjay Dutt made a phone call to actor John Abraham to opt out of action-drama, Shootout At Wadala.

When brought up, John doesn’t seem amused by the ‘news’: “It’s untrue. No one has made any such phone call to me. Sanjay (Dutt) is the nicest human being in the world. He can’t even think of doing something like that. We respect each other as professionals and would never do anything of this nature to each other, or anyone else around us for that matter.” 

Sanjay and John worked together in the 2006-Old Boys rip-off, Zinda, directed by Gupta. “I will always stand up for Sanjay wherever he is or whatever he does. No one has tried to pull me out of Shootout… As far as I’m concerned, the project is on but dates haven’t been sorted out,” John adds.

Shootout At Wadala, based on goon Manya Surve’s life, is the sequel to Shootout At Lokhandwala (2007). It’s the story behind Mumbai’s first ever encounter recorded by the police files. John plays Manya.

Actor Anil Kapoor emulates encounter specialist Isaque Bhagwan. “Shootout At Wadala will be my Vaastav. It has a terrific script. In fact, I am going mad thinking about it. But with Sanjay (Gupta) and me, the gut feeling is right and we’ll make a superb team,” beams John, who has done a lot of homework for his character.

“But I would love to know more. Once Sanjay has all the information, we will polish our understanding of Manya. Shootout… is real and raw. Once I start, I won’t take on another film till I complete it.”