MUMBAI: Chaalis Chauraasi, produced by Maask Entertainment and Filament Glo (India), has been slotted for release on 12 January next year.

"Everything has gone according to the plan. And now we have locked the date as well. 12 January 2012 is a date to remember," said director Hriday Shetty in a statement.

Chaalis Chauraasi revolves around a police van - MH-02-A- 4084 and four cops. Pankaj Suri aka SIR (Naseeruddin Shah), Albert Pinto aka Pinto (KK Menon), Bhaskar Sardesai aka Bobby (Atul Kulkarni) and Shakti Chinappa aka Shakti (Ravi Kishan) see an opportunity to a great future when they are given a mission to pull off. Things take a twist when another cop stops their van en-route and takes them as his backup to catch a dangerous gangster.

The story unfolds through the night where the fine line between law and crime is repeatedly crossed, leading to unexpected situations, sometimes very hilarious. The foursome, who think of themselves as very rough and tough macho men, encounter situations where they are forced to reckon with a different truth about themselves.

The film also casts Rajesh Sharma who has earlier worked in films like Ishqiya, No One Killed Jessica and Khosla Ka Ghosla.

This crime film, which was scheduled to finish in 45 days, was in fact wound up in 41 days.

Earlier, Shetty directed films like Plan (2004) and Pyaar Mein Twist in 2005.