Apporva
Lakhia's
film
Shootout
At
Lokhandwala,
which
released
on
May
25,
2007,
is
one
of
the
most
iconic
gangster
films
to
have
come
up
in
Bollywood.
The
movie
based
on
a
real-life
police
shootout
at
the
Lokhandwala
Complex
in
Mumbai,
was
praised
by
critics
and
audiences
alike.
Vivek
Anand
Oberoi's
character
from
the
movie,
Maya
Dolas,
has
attained
cult
status
over
the
years.
The
character
was
so
very
well
portrayed
by
Vivek
that
even
today,
when
people
talk
about
negative
characters
they
always
mention
Maya
Dolas.
As
Shootout
At
Lokhandwala
clocks
14
years
today
(May
25,
2021),
Vivek
walked
down
the
memory
lane
and
shared
an
interesting
trivia
about
the
film.
The
actor
revealed
that
he
had
initially
turned
down
the
role
of
Maya
Dolas
as
he
had
reservations
with
the
way
his
character
was
written
at
that
time.
Vivek
said,
"Some
roles
and
actors
are
just
"meant
to
be".
Believe
it
or
not,
at
first,
I
actually
said
no
to
play
Maya
Dolas
in
Shootout
At
Lokhandwala!
I
had
my
reservations
with
the
way
the
character
was
written
at
that
time."
So,
what
happened
and
how
did
Vivek
finally
end
up
doing
the
film?
"Sanjay
Gupta
and
Apoorva
Lakhia
did
the
coolest
thing,
they
asked
me
how
I
would
want
the
character
to
be
and
how
I
would
visualise
it.
That
led
to
a
creative
jam
session
that
lasted
all
night
and
by
morning,
I
was
doing
the
film!
It
was
their
maturity
and
collaborative
spirit
and
complete
absence
of
any
ego
that
just
won
me
over!
From
then
on
it
was
one
of
the
most
awesome
fun
shoots
of
my
career!
The
sets
were
riddled
with
the
sounds
of
bullets
and
the
boys
laughing
at
some
joke
or
pranks
we
played
and
no
one
was
spared!
We
were
a
family;
we
were
a
"gang"," Vivek
spilled
the
beans.
Well,
we
can't
imagine
anyone
other
than
Vivek
Anand
Oberoi
playing
Maya
Dolas.
The
performance
helped
him
bag
many
awards,
and
also
got
the
film
a
lot
of
appreciation.
The
music
of
the
movie
became
a
super
hit.
The
song
'Ganpat',
with
Vivek
and
his
gangster
buddies
from
the
movie,
went
on
to
become
a
massive
hit
and
is
played
at
parties
and
discos
even
till
today
after
14
years.
Besides
Vivek,
the
movie
also
starred
Amitabh
Bachchan,
Sanjay
Dutt,
Suniel
Shetty,
Tusshar
Kapoor,
Arbaaz
Khan,
Rohit
Roy,
Neha
Dhupia,
Shabbir
Ahluwalia,
Aditya
Lakhia,
Ravi
Gossain,
Akhilendra
Mishra,
Dia
Mirza,
Abhishek
Bachchan,
Amrita
Singh,
and
many
others.