'Shootout at Wadala' a brave attempt: Ekta Kapoor

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The film directed by Sanjay Gupta, is the prequel to 2007 film "Shootout at Lokhandwala" and is based on the book "Dongri to Dubai" written by Hussain Zaidi. It is the story of gangsters like Sabir Ibrahim, Manya Surve and Dawood Ibrahim.

"'Shootout at Wadala' is a very unique film. It is based on real incidents. We decided not to change the names of people as it is the whole essence of the film. If we had fictional names, then the movie would not have been the same. One thing I have learnt in this profession is that you have to be true to your art and so there was no fear about making this film. I think it is very brave of the director and the actors to be part of the film," Ekta said.

The producer along with actor Anil Kapoor, who plays a police officer in "Shootout at Wadala", unveiled the first look trailer of the film here today.

It was a first-of-its-kind orchestrated launch which took place simultaneously across five cities in the country. A live shootout scene played out in front of an unaware audience in a mall here, wherein a petrol blast took place in a car kept as a prop in the cordoned area.

"We are doing the biggest and first ever 5-city simultaneous launch of the film's keenly awaited trailer. Ekta and me are here in Delhi while the rest of the cast is taking care of Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow," Anil said.

Recently Ekta also held a scary and eerie press conference for her upcoming horror venture "Ek Thi Dayan" in Mumbai, which featured 'daayan' dolls hanging from tree tops and girls dressed as 'daayans' standing at the entrance handing out 'misfortune cookies' to the guests.

When asked why she has decided to have such an elaborate promotion for her films, Ekta said, "I did it because I want it to be exciting and interesting. The audience shells out some 200 rupees to watch our films, so the least we can do for them is to give them something they can talk about. I have always believed in entertainment and I will continue to do it."

"Shootout at Wadala" also stars John Abraham, Tusshar Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Kangana Ranaut, Manoj Bajpai, Mahesh Manjrekar and Ronit Roy. The film will hit theatres on May 1.