By Ruchika Kher
Colombo, June 6 (IANS) After “Shootout at Lokhandwala” based on a gunbattle between gangsters and the Mumbai Police in 1991, director Apoorva Lakhia gears up to bring another real cop story on screen starting in August.

“My next film is ‘Mumbai Taxi Service’ based on an incident that happened in 1985. That’s a cop film and we will shoot it in Mumbai. I have a very interesting star cast in that, including Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar,” Lakhia told IANS in an interview.

“We will start shooting in August and will complete it in 65 days.”

Lakhia made his debut as a director with the 2002 film “Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost” that had Abhishek Bachchan in the lead. Then he made “Ek Ajnabee” with Amitabh Bachchan and it was followed by the multi-starrer hit thriller “Shootout At Lokhandwala”. His last outing as a director was “Mission Istanbul”.

Now Lakhia has also donned the actor’s cap - he will be seen in the thriller “Knockout” helmed by Mani Shankar. The film also stars Sanjay Dutt, Irrfan Khan and Kangana Ranaut.

“I play a cop who comes in the pre-climax when the situation in the film is getting out of hand. I’m supposed to be this cool killer cop who can get the job done. So, they call me. I come in pretty late in the film,” said Lakhia.

The first look of his debut film as an actor was unveiled at the International Indian Film Academy awards that concluded Saturday.

Asked what inspired him to face the camera, he revealed: “I did it for fun. It’s a small role and I did it because I thought I can learn a different thing about cinema - what an actor goes through and what is going on in the director’s mind. It’s not a very big role. They finished my part in five days in Pune.”

So any plans of taking acting seriously?

“It never crossed my mind to take up acting seriously. I’m pretty confident right now as far as my career is concerned. I love directing and that’s my priority. I tried it once because I think you should try everything at least once in your life,” he said.