When Raj Kundra was granted bail in September 2021, he considered writing a book chronicling his days in prison. But it was a story meant for the screen, believed director-friend Shahnawaz Ali. After Kundra was convinced about making an acting debut with UT 69, the next step was to get his actor-wife Shilpa Shetty Kundra on board with the idea. “I had made notes inside the jail. Shahnawaz and Vikram Bhatt [UT 69 writer] thought they should be turned into a film instead of a memoir. I told them, ‘Are you mad? My wife and I have gone through so much. She would be annoyed!’ But they were persistent, so I made them speak to Shilpa. She was clear that the film will have nothing about the case. She said as long as that was in place, my story was important and needed to be told,” recollects Kundra.

A still from the film