'Shootout At Lokhandwala' is your third film after 'Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost' and 'Ek Ajnabi', and you have managed to put up the mammoth star cast together. How did you achieve this?

Actually I won't take the credit for that. The credit for this goes to Mr. Sanjay Gupta, the producer of the film. Once we decided to tackle the script, it was really important that we get a star cast otherwise it would be very difficult to make a movie like this. It was a true story and with this film, we were getting into into unfamiliar territory. Therefore it was imperative that we get a very good star cast so we went to each and very actor and requested them to play a part of the film and they were kind enough to agree. Some were friends whom we took favour from and some really wanted to do the film and we bought all of them together and made this film.

Your first film had Abhishek Bachchan and the second film had Amitji and the third has both. Will they always be part of your films?

Abhishek is a very close friend of mine. So, at one point we decided that we will try and work as much together as possible and that's why I asked him to do a special appearance in my film. Amitji has a full fledged role. Amitji is a great actor and there is no question about it. If there is a role, I would not think twice before going to him and asking him to take part in the film.

How difficult was the casting of this film?

I think relatively simple. If you look at the poster and you see the mammoth size of the casting it was comparatively easier than what it looks like. Vivek came on board straight away, Tusshar was a little hesitant as he was not sure whether he could do a film like this. Abhishek and Amitji both agreed instantly, Sanju Sir was already in the film, Suniel also agreed straight away and Arbaaz agreed. I don't think it was too much of a problem and the only convincing we had to do was with was with Amrita Singh because she wasn't sure if she wanted to play a Vivek Oberoi's mother. Beside that, I think it was a piece of cake.

Considering Vivek is going through a rough patch in his career, what made you cast him in the film?

I think Vivek is one of the finest actors in the country and you cant take that away from him. Films can be hits or flops. I mean, I don't have such a track record before this. So if Vivek was ready to work with me than I was more than happy to work with him.

Shootout At Lokhandwala is a multi-starrer. How did you manage to ensure that no one felt that he was being given a raw deal or their role would get less prominent than someone else?

Actually what happened was that we had the seventh draft of the script ready and that's what we had given the actors and they all knew what is going to be shot pretty much in advance. We tried to stick to the script obviously. The actors also did a lot of homework and research on the characters because I had started a workshop with most of the actors about two months earlier. Apart from the research done by the actors, we had given them live footage of the event, all the newspaper cuttings etc. I had asked them to speak to some cops and some other elements in the society. Everybody had pretty much gotten under the skin of the characters they were supposed to play. I was lucky because the biggest actors in the film, both Mr. Sanjay Dutt and Mr. Bachchan set the example straight away and so everybody just followed. Suniel and Arbaaz were a dream and so I guess if they were cooperating, the younger guys could do nothing about it .

What was the most difficult part of making this film?

I think every day is difficult in a film like this where in one frame you have more than six actors and in some frames you have 23-30 actors. It was a nerve racking because you had to keep an eye on 5-6 characters in every shot. The difficult part was to concentrate on all that was going on.

What made you choose such a subject for your film considering it was a first time you have taken a film based on real life story?

I had a lot of reasons for this one. It was important for me as a director who is onto his third film to be able to show that I am not bound to any one genre. Also, it was an interesting subject. The live footage was very gawdy and pretty shocking. My vibe with Mr. Gupta was fantastic. We had various intellectual conversations about the film and how to shoot it and then he gave me total independence in handling this film which was very important. I thought that it would be interesting to make a movie like this because the last film made like this was maybe 'Sarkar' or before that 'Satya' and it would be very challenging to make something that was realistic and raw.

For homework I saw a lot of Ram Gopal Varma's films to make sure that I dont make a movie like his. It was an interesting challenge. Also, we were thinking of having a big star cast and I think that was the major reason. I loved the character development of all the actors which was very important for me and even the way we wrote the script, we made it very interesting by cutting back and forth from flashback to real life. All this made me decide on this film.

This is the first film you have directed with Sanjay Gupta. How was your experience with him?

It was fantastic. It was a good experience. I think Mr.Gupta saw the second half of the film yesterday and he offered me another one. So, I think the response is pretty positive.

Tell us about your upcoming projects.

I am doing a film for Popcorn. Suniel Shetty is producing it. This project starts in October and after that I think I will work with Mr. Sanjay Gupta again.