The actor has a past history with the encounter specialist who he's essaying in his next

This was way back in 1982. A scrawny and even harrier Anil Kapoor was trying to find his footing within the industry. He was one of those boys who'd be happy playing second fiddle to the then superstars. But suddenly this young lad was faced with a grave problem.

During the shoot of the Dilip Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan starrer Shakti, one of the producers of the film, Mushir Alam, was kidnapped. If you're wondering what significance this story has today, here's why. Kapoor may have played a cop many a times in his career, but this one is a co-incidence like no other.

The actor, who is all set to essay the role of real-life encounter specialist Isaque Bhagwan in Shootout at Wadala, had to deal with the same cop when Alam was kidnapped. Says director Sanjay Gupta, "Anil's association to Bhagwan came up during research, and everyone was pleasantly surprised.

The case in point was the first high profile incident of the underworld setting their sights on the film industry. The way in which Bhagwan solved the case was very intriguing. Now it is sheer irony that Anil is to play Isaque's character."

Adds a source, "The story is about gangster Manya Surve played by John Abraham and his nemesis Inspector Isaque Bhagwan played by Anil. When Kapoor heard the script, he immediately recalled the incident with Bhagwan. He distinctly remembers how the cops ended up saving the producer before he could be harmed, or any money could be extorted."