Mumbai, 21 Jan

Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj on Wednesday said he didn't think that he needed the permission of gangster Hussain Ustara’s family for his upcoming film "ORomeo" as he has written the story based on a book whose rights he already owns.

The film, starring Shahid Kapoor in the role of Ustara, draws from the story of Hussain Ustara from the journalist-author Hussain Zaidi's book "Mafia Queens of Mumbai".

"This film is from the book, 'Mafia Queens of Mumbai' by Hussain Zaidi and I’ve taken the rights of this story. I didn’t think (of the permission). The germ of the idea and the characters are the same, but we’ve added a lot of fictional elements, which permission Hussain Zaidi sahab has taken or should’ve taken. I don’t think it was needed for me to take permission because it is based on a book,” Bhardwaj told reporters at the trailer launch of the film.

Ustara’s daughter, Sanober Shaikh, recently said that the filmmaker did not seek their permission to depict her father’s life.

She has also objected to the romantic angle shown between Kapoor and Triptii Dimri's character.

Dimri plays the role of gangster Sapna Didi.

Bhardwaj was set to make a film titled “Sapna Didi” with Deepika Padukone as the underworld queen Rahima Khan and Irrfan Khan in the role of gangster Hussain Ustara. However, following Irrfan Khan’s death and reported creative differences with director Honey Trehan, the film got shelved.

When asked about making the same film with a different cast earlier, Bhardwaj said, both the movies, “Sapna Didi” and “ORomeo” are different.

“That script and the cast were different, but this is a different film. This film’s titled ‘ORomeo’ and when I first started working on the film, I never thought we would have this title. But the story evolved, and it (draft) underwent many changes. This film has nothing to do with the earlier film,” the director said.

"The journey of this film started long ago. I took the rights of Hussain Zaidi’s book (‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’), I had written a foreword for it and I’ve been working on it for many years. The film had many drafts and finally we made this (‘ORomeo),” he said, adding he is thankful to producer Sajid Nadiadwala for his unending support.

The director said Nadiadwala was very protective of the film and ensured that he had everything that he needed to make the movie possible.

"ORomeo" boasts of an ensemble cast including Triptii Dimri, Nana Patekar, Avinash Tiwary, Tamannaah Bhatia, Farida Jalal, Disha Patani, with Vikrant Massey in a special appearance.

Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, the movie is slated for a theatrical release on 13 February during Valentine’s week.