MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has rubbished rumours going around in trade circles about it purchasing the rights of the sequel to Salman Khan-Sonakshi Sinha starrer Dabangg 2.

Refuting all talk that the production house has picked up the rights of the Salman Khan film for Rs 1.40 billion including the print and advertising costs, UTV Motion Pictures has denied it totally and issued a statement.

"There have been irresponsible reports in certain sections of the media that UTV has bought the rights for Dabangg 2 for Rs 1.40 billion, despite us clearly denying this. We would like to clarify that UTV has not purchased the rights of the movie in question. We have been very open about announcing our new projects and communicated them to the media and will continue to do so. We hope this puts all speculations to rest, " reads an official statement from UTV Motion Pictures.

The 2010 action film was directed by Abhinav Kashyap and produced by Arbaaz under the Arbaaz Khan Productions.

To be directed by producer Arbaaz Khan himself, Dabaang-2 would see the appearance of our ex-cricket captain Sourav Ganguly in a guest role. Ganguly will reprise the character of a player and the proposed name of the character that he would be playing is called Daddu Singh.

The sequel is expected to go on floors in March and the film has been scheduled to release during Christmas this year.