Nikhil Dwivedi will apparently play the dreaded gangster Abu Salem in his forthcoming film

Bollywood recently has seen an upswing in the number of gangster films being churned out. Now we hear that actor Nikhil Dwivedi is gearing up to play dreaded gangster Abu Salem in his next. His character will be called Captain, an alias for Salem in the underworld.

A reliable source associated with the project, to be produced by Suryaveer Singh, and scheduled to start later this year, says, "Currently, Surya and Nikhil are tied up with their upcoming film, a hard-hitting love story. After its release in about three months they will start the preparations for the film on Salem," we are told.

Earlier, it was speculated that the producer's current film helmed Navneet Bahl-Bharat Arora, was actually based on the Abu Salem-Monica Bedi love story with Richa Chadda playing the gangster's sweetheart.

However, our source maintains that the film has nothing to do with the gangster. The new project, tentatively titled Captain, is scheduled to start later this year.

The film will be shot in Mumbai, Dubai, South Africa and United States. Asked about skipping Portugal, where the don was nabbed with his girlfriend, our source replies, "Some parts of South Africa will be used for the scenes set in Portugal."