This one may well fall into 'Believe it or not' category. Though 'Chakravyuha', which is based on the issue of Naxalites may seem all topical, its maker Prakash Jha had conceptualised it as good as nine years back.

Incidentally this was also the year when he released his first major commercial success 'Gangajal'. Surprisingly, this was the time when Arjun Rampal was hardly happening and Abhay Deol didn’t even exist on the map of Bollywood.

"Jha saab was just giving finishing touches to the Ajay Devgn starrer 'Gangajal' when the idea of 'Chakravyuh' struck.

He immediately started work on that but the whole writing process took him a good nine years", informs a close associate, "In the interim period he went on to write and complete 'Apaharan', 'Raajneeti' and 'Aarakshan'.

However he couldn't let 'Chakravyuha' out of his mind."

Though there is still a mystery around whether he had sounded off the idea to Ajay Devgn, his favourite, the fact remains that once the cast of 'Chakravyuha' was being finalised, Arjun Rampal and Abhay Deol were eventually the chosen ones.

"Jha saab doesn't follow the trend of finishing one story and then starting work on something else. As and when there are certain incidents, issues or stories that come back, he keeps refining his script", the associate continues.

Same was evidenced for 'Raajneeti' as well which took over five years to be written. "Well, what's new in that? It took me 11 years to write 'Gangajal'", quips Jha, "That's the process I follow. Even for 'Chakravyuha' we finished writing only early this year."

No wonder, his next film 'Satyagraha' has a ling drawn tale to tell as well.

Apparently, it has been five years since Jha has been taking notes on the film. One wonders though whether his lead actor Ajay Devgn has been listening to them ever since then.