Vivek Oberoi On 14 Years Of Shootout At Lokhandwala: I Actually Said No To Play Maya Dolas

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.

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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.

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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.