MUMBAI: Producers Sanjay Ahluwalia and Vinay Choksey have bought the rights of the 2007 Telugu blockbuster Dhee and have signed Indra Kumar to direct the project.

The film, that will have Sanjay Dutt in the lead, will be co-produced by his business manager Dharam Oberoi and close friend Rafi Kazi.

All this started with original screenplay writer Kona Venkat narrating Dutt the story, after which he got interested.

Dutt will play the role of Mangal Bhai--the heroine‘s elder brother, the character that was played by Srihari in the original.

The makers have asked Kona Venkat, who penned the story for Dhee to also write the script for the Hindi version.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Cinemax has filed a legal suit against Vinay Choksey and Sanjay Ahluwalia, the production partners of Dutt.

The suit demands a stay order on the release of their film Rascals that is slated to hit theatres on 6 October. Choksey and Ahluwalia had taken Rs 20 million from Cinemax in 2008 to make a film that never got made. But they never returned the money.