'Rascals': A lot is at stake for Sanjay Dutt

New Delhi: Once a prolific director David Dhawan, who had made twenty films in a span of eight years from 1995 to 2002, slowed down a bit after 2003. Next seven years saw only six films from him. However, David Dhawan is once again rearing to go with his latest film ‘Rascals’.

It’s been more than two years since Dhawan’s last film ‘Do Knot Disturb’ had hit the theaters. ‘DKD’ was preceded by his last successful film ‘Partner’ in the year 2007, which makes him deprived of success in last four years.

After defying two releasing dates, ‘Rascals’ is scheduled to appear on silver screens on forthcoming October 7.

The star cast of ‘Rascals’ includes the likes of Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Kangna Ranaut, Arjun Rampal, Chunky Pandey and Lisa Haydon.

The initial promos of the film shows Devgn and Dutt dancing with Kangna on a peppy number ‘Tik Tuk’ that certainly catches attention, primarily due to the weird dancing by the two ‘slightly’ older actors.

Ajay Devgn’s last film ‘Singham’ has created history at the box office and is still fresh in the audiences’ memories. Devgn looked toned and dynamic in ‘Singham’, while the teasers of ‘Rascals’ show him in a different light. The difference between the age groups of Kangna and Devgn is not a very tough thing to pick out in these trailers.

Ajay can still pass off as a hero as he looks fit and fine and recent successes have carved a fan base for him, however the same could not be said about the other protagonist Sanjay Dutt.

Dutt has left past his prime since a long ago, but he was acceptable as hero till recent times. Bad acting and plump body, which was once the ideal for many youngsters, took him farther from the lead roles. Of course, he is still appearing as the hero, but that does not make him suitable for the characters. Box office results are also not backing up his decision of playing a hero.

Out of his last ten films, only one is commercially successful and two are moderately successful. The successful film is ‘Ready’, while moderately successful films are ‘All the Best’ and ‘Double Dhamaal’.

‘Ready’ completely belonged to Salman Khan, while rest two are multi starrers, so Sanjay Dutt’s percentage in their success is a debatable issue.

‘Rascals’ has Sanjay Dutt as one of the producers also, which makes it a hard bet for Dutt, who will directly be in loss if anything goes wrong.

Dutt’s association with Dhawan goes back to the year 1989, when both had worked for the first time in ‘Taaqatwar’. Since then they have worked in seven films but only one of them, ‘Haseena Maan Jayegi’, became successful.

Dutt also is more or less trying to restrict himself to character roles, so this venture as hero could prove risky for him.

However, this is early to comment on the magnetic properties of Dutt’s personality, which has its own charm. Remember, how the first look of ‘Agneepath’ had created flutters recently.

His next release after ‘Rascals’ is ‘Ra.One’, which will be followed by ‘Agneepath’, two long awaited films. Thus, it will be interesting to see that whether his stint in ‘Rascals’ affects them films or not.