MUMBAI: Though there have been whispers galore of encounter-cop Pradeep Sharma being the hero of the new cops film ‘Maximum’ we now have it from a source extremely close to the film that Sonu Sood’s character is based completely on Sharma and that in fact Sood and the ‘Maximum’ director Kabir Kaushik have taken Sharma fully into confidence to get the details from the real-life ‘encounter’ cop’s story right.
But what’s really a whammy of a revelation is that there’s a character in Maximum based on a very hot and sizzling actress who shot to superstardom in the 1990s with a Ram Gopal Varma musical.
Says our source, “Yes, there is definitely a lot about the film industry in the film. Anjana Sukhani plays Urvashi a hot sizzling actress of the 1990s and 2000s based very obviously on a leading heroine of the 1990 and 2000s. The likeness is unmistakable. Anjana is shown to be this enormously classy dancer-actress who has a seductive and sensuous image on screen but is a very simple homely Maharshtrian girl when the makeup is off..”
When asked about her character in ‘Maximum’, Anjana Sukhani said, “I don’t know who my character is based on. But yes. I play an actress named Urvashi.”
Continues our source, “It’s all very classily done. But the film’s makers are shy of any mention of the Matondkar factor regarding their film. They want to avoid talking about all the real-life characters from Bollywood, the law enforcement agencies and politics who show up in ‘Maximum’, although it’s obvious who the real-life parallels are. To take another example, Vinay Pathak plays a politician based on Kripa Shankar Singh. Naseeruddin Shah plays Vijay Salaskar the encounter cop who was killed in the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai.”
As for the overt and unmistakable Pradeep Sharma factor, Sonu Sood secretly spent substantial chunks of time getting to understand the mind behind Mumbai’s 112 ‘encounter’ killings.
Says our source, “Pradeep Sharma is a very integral part of the film. But so many real-life encounter-cops have been put on screen in the past few years, Mr Sharma opted to remain behind the scenes supervising the factual detailing without coming out in the open.”
When asked about the real-life parallels in Maximum both Sonu Sood and director Kabir Kaushik refrained from comment.