Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Gupta was working on a major OTT project before his death. He wanted to make an eight-episode crime thriller web series based on the book ‘Criminals in Uniform’. The series was to mark his OTT debut. There were plans to include major stars such as Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Naseeruddin Shah and Emraan Hashmi. However, after his death on October 30, 2026, the ambitious project remained unfinished.
Plan was to create a franchise titled ‘Scandal’
The story of the project was based on investigative journalists Dr. Sanjay Singh and Rakesh Trivedi’s book ‘Criminals in Uniform’. According to the writers, Sanjay Gupta had prepared a detailed pitch deck for the series and had also written the scripts for the first two episodes. He wanted to develop it as a franchise titled ‘Scandal’, featuring stories inspired by different real-life incidents.
The series was planned with Anil Kapoor as the Mumbai Police Commissioner, Akshaye Khanna as an ACP and Naseeruddin Shah as the National Security Adviser. Names such as Dia Mirza, Atul Kulkarni, Mahesh Manjrekar and Ronit Roy were also under discussion.
Aryan Khan case story planned for second season
According to writer Sanjay Singh, Sanjay Gupta wanted a story to be developed for the second season on the drugs case linked to Aryan Khan. He wanted the various aspects of the case to be presented and both sides of the story to get proper space. For this, he was also planning to speak with Shah Rukh Khan.
Difficulties arose due to sensitive subject
The story of the series was inspired by the 2021 Antilia bomb case, although its characters were to be fictional. According to the writers, the sensitivity of the subject and the need for a large budget created challenges in taking the project forward. Sanjay Gupta was in talks with platforms such as SonyLIV and Netflix. He wanted to make it on a large scale and was not in favour of completing the work in a hurry.
Sanjay Gupta was also planning to make a film or web series on the ‘Ranga-Billa’ case. The unfinished dream of the director, who made his mark through films such as ‘Kaante’, ‘Shootout at Wadala’ and ‘Kaabil’, has now remained a memory for his fans.
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