MUMBAI: Bharat Shah has acquired the all India theatrical rights of RGV’s Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay, it is learnt.

While Shah was unavailable for comment, sources close to his distribution concern V.I.P. Films confirmed the deal, which has reportedly been sealed for Rs 170 million (Rs 17 crore).

The film is nearing completion and will be released by the end of the year. Shah, say sources, plans to ride the wave of hype created by the film, and then work out a profitable deal by selling the film to various distributors in parts.

Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay is financed by Adlabs and produced and  directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan as Gabbar Singh, Mohanlal as Inspector Ranveer, Sushmita Sen as Devi, Nisha Kothari as Ghungroo, Gaurav Kapoor as Ahmed, Rajpal Yadav as Soorma Bhopali, Sushant Singh as Sambha, Urmila Matondkar and Abhishek Bachchan in the item number ‘Mehbooba mehbooba…’, Prashant Raj as Jai and Ajay Devgan as Veeru.

The music rights of the film have been acquired by T-Series.