Playing the dreaded gangster Manya Surve in ‘Shootout at Wadala’ proved to be a turning point in the career of John Abraham. The actor had never been seen or presented that way before. The success of the film also created a strong bond between John and his director Sanjay Gupta.

The two are back together again and this time Gupta is bringing John in a totally new avatar. John will play a hardened cop in Gupta’s new magnum opus ‘Mumbai Saga’. The character is based on a real life encounter specialist who rose to notorious heights in the 90’s.

Both John and Gupta are tight lipped about the identity of the cop. However our sources tell us that it’s based on Vijay Salasker the famous encounter specialist who died in the 26/11 attacks.

When asked Gupta confirmed, "Yes John will play a hardened encounter specialist in Mumbai Saga. It’s the kind of character he hasn’t played before. It is a conscious decision on our part to push the envelope with every film we do. John is one of the most underrated actors and I intend to change that. But the character has nothing to do with the late Vijay Salaskar."

Gupta earlier had a long association with Sanjay Dutt and worked with him in all his films until their fall out. The industry today says that John is the new Dutt in Gupta’s life. When questioned about Dutt, Gupta replied, "No one replaces anyone, life moves on. Sanju will always be a very special part of my life. But now John and me have new heights to scale."