Sanjay Gupta to produce Samit Kakkad’s biopic on controversial bar dancer Sweety

Filmmaker Samit Kakkad is all set to make a biopic on controversial bar dancer Sweety in a film titled Topaz.

The movie, which will be based in the 1980s and 1990s, is being produced by Sanjay Gupta while the screenplay and dialogues have been contributed by Nikhil Mahajan and Hrishikesh Koli, respectively.

The interesting bit about Sweety is that she was actually a man who used to pretend to be a woman in South Mumbai’s notorious Topaz Bar, whence the title. The customers at the bar never knew that Sweety was actually a man.

Kakkad shared his excitement for the movie with Cinestaan.com, saying, “My excitement and my true sentiment for this film can’t be put into words. Words can’t do justice to how elated I am today and how eagerly I am looking forward to start this dream project of mine. As a young man, when I used to watch Sweety dancing away to glory and giving world-class dancers a run for their money, I didn’t think that there was anything more to him than that glamour and fan following.”

The filmmaker began seeing a different picture when he started digging deeper. “When I started delving into the bar scene in Mumbai as an aspiring filmmaker and discovered who Sweety really is, the life he leads away from the spotlight and what really happens to women behind the scenes at a dance bar, my respect for them increased manifold.

“That day," he continued, "I made up my mind that I will make a film and doff my hat to Sweety and to the women who chose to dance to run their kitchens. I don’t sympathize with them; I have a sense of pride for these women. They are really hardworking. Sweety’s own story has this and so much more that I was drawn to it to bring it before the whole world.”

The casting for Topaz is under way currently. The film will be shot in and around Mumbai next year.

Earlier this year, Kakkad came up with MX Player’s Hindi web-series Indori Ishq. He has also helmed films like Aayna Ka Bayna (2012), Half Ticket (2016), both in Marathi, and Ascharyachakit (2018) in Hindi.

Speaking about the film, Sanjay Gupta recently told Bombay Times, an entertainment supplement of the English daily The Times of India, “Sweety’s story has lent itself to a brilliant screenplay, which I am confident will translate into an entertaining movie. We are now in the process of working out other details.”