Ek Deewane ki Deewaniyat' star Harshvardhan Rane to headline Ektaa R Kapoor’s crime film 'Shootout in Dubai' - Reports

As the ‘Shootout’ series gets ready to go international, Harshvardhan Rane will be the star of the next installment. The third movie, ‘Shootout in Dubai’, takes the action outside of Mumbai for the first time and centres on Rane in a slick, fictional crime story set on a global scale.

The idea is a big step forward for the franchise, which used to be about real-life encounters in Mumbai’s underworld. The filmmakers want to make the visuals sharper and the canvas bigger, but they want to keep the aggression that made the first movie so popular.

Franchise takes a global turn

Mid-day says that the choice to move the third installment abroad occurred after years of internal debate. Sources say that early talks looked at Delhi as the next location, but the team decided on Dubai because of its size and cinematic appeal. The movie is a sequel to ‘Shootout at Lokhandwala’ from 2007 and ‘Shootout at Wadala’ from 2013, both of which were about the growth of gangsters in Mumbai.

This new entry won’t go back to any real events. Instead, it presents a story that isn’t real but is meant to feel modern and big. As per the source, the franchise is officially stepping out of Mumbai and going international with this movie, which shows a distinct change in direction.

The only actor confirmed to star in the project right now is Harshvardhan Rane. His casting puts him in a strong position to lead the franchise’s makeover and make it the face of its international jump.

Script locked after long development

The movie has been in the works since 2021, and the script has been rewritten six times. Mid-day says that Ektaa R Kapoor and co-creator Sanjay Gupta wouldn’t move on until the storyline was as intense as the previous flicks.

“There was no pressure to rush this. The makers were very clear that unless the script carried the same aggression and attitude as Lokhandwala and Wadala, they wouldn’t greenlight it. Each draft was about the tone. It seems they finally have something they can bet on and will lock it by March,” a source told Mid-Day.

The film’s identity is heavily influenced by its Dubai locale. “This one is designed to feel swankier. Dubai allows for scale, be it glass buildings, highways, night action, a more international visual grammar. It’s still a Shootout film, but with a fresh skin,” the source concluded.




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