Sanjay Gupta’s final project: an 8-part Antilia web series

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who died on October 30 at his Versova residence after an accidental fall, was preparing his web series debut: an eight-part adaptation of the true-crime book CIU: Criminals in Uniform, written by investigative journalists Dr Sanjay Singh and Rakesh Trivedi. He was 57.

A pitch deck ready, cameras never rolled

Dr Sanjay Singh told Mid-Day that Gupta had held several meetings and prepared an elaborate pitch deck. Singh recalled that Gupta’s ambition was “to create one of India’s most star-studded web series.” The package was still in the casting and development stage when Gupta died.

The ensemble he was assembling

Gupta was in discussions with a broad group of actors, with key roles already sketched against the story.

• Anil Kapoor as Mumbai Police Commissioner
• Naseeruddin Shah as a bureaucrat
• Akshaye Khanna as Assistant Commissioner of Police
• Emraan Hashmi as a senior inspector

Atul Kulkarni, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ronit Bose Roy and Dia Mirza were also in early conversations. The names cut across art-house and commercial cinema, which underlined the scale Gupta was chasing.

Built on the Antilia bomb scare

The adaptation would have fictionalised the 2021 Antilia incident: explosives found in a vehicle outside a wealthy business tycoon’s home, with the controversial head of Mumbai Police’s Crime Investigation Unit leading the probe. Singh said Gupta believed the book could become a gripping series and understood the sensitivity of the subject.

Why it matters for Hindi entertainment

Gupta spent 32 years making stylish crime thrillers, including Kaante, Zinda, Shootout at Wadala and Kaabil. Singh said his stories went beyond the crime itself to people, circumstances and hidden truths. For fans, this final project would have translated that grammar into the longer rhythms of a web series, with an ensemble big enough to carry multiple storylines.

The other unfinished case

Singh said Gupta also wanted to revisit the 1978 Ranga-Billa case, even after Prime Video’s Raakh had explored it. Gupta felt the makers had missed an opportunity for a more complex story and saw potential for a factually accurate series. Both projects now remain part of his unfinished legacy.

Source: The Times of India