10 Years of Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai: From Half-page Story Idea to an Iconic Film

On the ten year anniversary of Bollywood's gangster film Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, director Milan Luthria recalled how a half-page story idea was developed into an 'iconic film' with sustained efforts of cast and crew.

On the special occasion, Milan posted a throwback picture of himself on social media from OUATIM set and wrote, "A half-page story idea to an iconic film, OUATIM changed time for us (sic)." In his post, Milan also tagged the film's lead stars Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Randeep Hooda, Kangana Ranaut and Prachi Desai.

Written by Rajat Aroraa, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai is loosely based on the life and times of Mumbai underworld gangsters Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim. Milan and Rajat's collaboration would once again prove to be electric and the performances delivered by Ajay and Emraan would just elevate the script to another level. The film received great response from the audience and a sequel was also released in 2013, with Akshay Kumar and Imran Khan in lead roles.

Once Upon Ay Time in Mumbai Doobara, however, was not successful at the box office. Now, Milan is working on his next with Tara Sutaria and Ahan Shetty. He last helmed Baadshaho in 2017 with Emraan and Ajay in lead roles.