MUMBAI: With John Abraham and Genelia D’Souza in the lead, the David Dhawan directed Hook Ya Crook seemed to have everything going for it when it was launched some time back, including a rock solid producer like UTV.

But there’s news that the film — now 90 per cent complete — has apparently been shelved. UTV, which has already pumped several crores into the project, now feels that the film just isn’t working.

A source said, “Hook Ya Crook was a film that even UTV was banking on, but after they saw some portions of the film, they were very unhappy with the product. There had certain creative differences with director David Dhawan, following which the film has now been shelved. It’s been around six months since the shooting of the film was stopped and the project is now in the cold storage. It was a humungous decision for UTV, considering that they have already invested Rs 20 crore in the film.”

While rumours about the film getting stuck had been doing the rounds for some time, everyone connected with the project insists that the only delay is because of the non availability of dates from Indian cricketer stars.

Said Siddharth Roy Kapoor of UTV,”We are waiting for the dates of the cricketers as we have to shoot the climax with them. Once we get the dates and shoot, we will announce the release date of the film.”

The climax of Hook Ya Crook is a cricket match between Team India and a team comprising jail inmates. John Abraham plays the skipper of the prison team.

“The decision of UTV to shelve the film has come as a huge setback to John, because he firmly believed in the film and had really worked on it, especially after his last film Ashayein failed to release at the box-office,” said our source.

Another source close to the project added, “Both John and David don’t agree with UTV’s decision to shelve the film. In fact, they have decided to complete the film by themselves and organise a grand release. John and David are working to shoot the remaining portions quickly and start working on the post-production.”

Despite repeated calls to David Dhawan and John Abraham, they remained available for comment.

John Jinxed

John Abraham seems to be having a run of tough luck. His film with Nagesh Kukunoor, Aashayein, couldn't get released and now even the David Dhawan directed Hook Ya Crook may meet with a similar fate. There are also rumours about Abbas Tyrewala’s 1- 800-Love, which has been inordinately delayed.