Sanjay Dutt plays his first real-life character named Sattarbhai in EMI. The character of the reluctant bully who has the thankless job of collecting loan money from bank debtors is based on a real-life EMI (easy monthly installments) collector.
Co-producer Ekta Kapoor confirms Dutt's real life antecedents. "Sanju Sir's character is modeled on a real-life agent.
In fact, the whole film's plot about all these debt collectors who have the thankless jobs of getting bank loans back from debtors was inspired by the real-life Sattarbhai." The real-life character's identity is being kept a secret for a very definite purpose.
Says Sunil Shetty, "We don't want the real Sattarbhai to come into the picture until Sanju Baba's fictional avatar is properly unveiled to the public."
Also, there's the question of copyrights. Would the real Sattarbhai suddenly stand up and claim money for his character being cannibalized? This isn't the first time this question has cropped up.
Recently when Preity Zinta played a real-life battered wife in Heaven On Earth, the woman who inspired the character suddenly came forward to demand what sounded like ransom money.
"She demanded an obscenely astronomical sum of money that really put Deepa Mehta off, " says a member of the Heaven On Earth team.
However, producers Ekta Kapoor and Sunil Shetty and Sanjay Dutt who plays Sattarbhai seem pretty sure the real character won't suddenly demand his pound of flesh. "He's more than happy to be a role model for a character that Sanju Baba is playing. We'll include him in the promotional events of EMI very soon, " says Sunil.
Sanjay Dutt met, interacted with and studied the real-life Sattarbhai very closely before playing the character. "This is my most seriously funny and socially-relevant character since Munnabhai.
And I'm happy to be doing something that doesn't require me to go into the underworld, " says Dutt.
As for the real Sattarbhai, he is free to share the thrill of the film…unless he suddenly decides to become a party-pooper desirous of a bigger share in the film's investments than he deserves.
Another copyright puzzle for EMI... The title is also the acronym for the world's oldest music label. "But we've registered our title. And EMI is accepted bank jargon, short for Easy Monthly Installments. If EMI is a music company then we're glad to be keeping such musical company, " jokes Sunil.
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