A new web series, ‘Hot Shots: Dare To Dream’, based on a real-life scam that rocked Mumbai in 2016, will be filmed in Dubai in July, Gulf News tabloid! can confirm.
According to Dubai-based co-producer Arjun Kumar, the actors of ‘Hot Shots’ will be in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for at least three weeks. ‘Hot Shots’ will dramatise the multi-million dollar racket carried out by fraudsters from call-centers in Mira Road in Mumbai and conned thousands of US residents to part with their wealth.
“We will be shooting in locations like plush hotels, outdoor beach clubs and night clubs in the UAE... We are also looking to film in a big manufacturing unit. One of the guys in the series re-locates to Dubai and his new life will be captured in the UAE,” said Kumar from Base Industries Group in an exclusive interview with Gulf News tabloid!.
The Firoz A Nadiadwala production ‘Hot Shots’, the cast members of which will be revealed later, chronicles a bunch of wily young men who rob foreigners off their money by operating in a call centre in Mumbai.
The UAE is not their sole destination to film. Mumbai and New York are the other two cities in which the series will be shot.
The racket defrauded thousands of US citizens and residents of approximately $300 million (Dh1.1 billion).
“After acquiring the rights of this real-life scam story for a movie and web series, we have been developing the content for almost 2 years now and are reasonably confident with the final script. We have decided to give it a dual format release, this is the 1st time a major Indian production will be released both as a film as well as an extended version as a web series on a major OTT platform. Hot Shots provides us with that perfect opportunity as it is an edge of the seat human drama that has all the elements of a thriller complete with emotions, wit, friendship, ambition, greed and power struggle,” said Kumar in a statement.
The series will be devoid of profanity and won’t glorify violence or sex, a charge that has been popularly levelled against web series being churned out from India.
“For the last 65 years, our studio is known for producing big budget wholesome family entertainers be it in action, thrill, comedy, mythology or suspense genres. Testimony to this fact is that we are the only Indian studio who have made an epic tale like the Mahabharata into a feature film, way back in 1965 on a grand scale, which we are now planning to remake for international audiences... We have never subscribed or supported the thought process that abusive language, sexually explicit scenes, blood and gore are necessary to engage and entertain the audiences.”
Watch this space for more.
