By Subhash K. Jha, IANS

In what's probably the most authentic and scrupulous replication of a real-life drama, Apoorva Lakhia has opted to take the entire recorded footage of the shootout between cops and terrorists in a building in Lokhandwala here in 1992 for his film "Shoot-out at Lokhandwala".

Says Lakhia: "We're very lucky to have visual documentation of the incident. What happened was that Minty Tejpal, a journalist from the now-defunct video magazine Newstrack, was interviewing Pooja Bedi in Andheri when he heard a shootout had started in a building in Lokhandwala. Minty dumped Pooja and ran to cover what turned out to be a historic encounter."

Lakhia has decided to use that one-hour special instalment of Newstrack in his film.

"I don't know how I can fit in the visuals because it is in the obsolete VHS format. As it is, I'm shooting 'Shoot-out' in the 16 mm format and blowing it up into the 70 mm to get that grainy gritty documentary look. I'm somehow going to fit in Minty's footage."

What Lakhia has done for now is to replicate every detail of the live Newstrack footage in his film. "And I mean every detail, from the furniture to the position of the boys and the cops, every single detail I've taken from Minty's film."

In this detailing of violence, Lakhia hopes to live up to producer Sanjay Gupta's image as a purveyor of true-life violence.

The film is complete except for Sanjay Dutt's portions, which Lakhia hopes to complete in December.

"That would be the grand shootout with the entire cast. We're just waiting for the verdict on Sanju sir (Sanjay Dutt). And then we're done."