Sanjay Dutt"s dates have gone haywire, all thanks to the beard that he has grown for his role in Mani Shankar"s Knock-Out.

The beard was supposed to come off this month after the completion of his schedule for Shankar"s film. But Dutt"s mentor Amar Singh played the spoilsport. He asked Dutt to campaign for the assembly elections in Maharashtra. That"s when Dutt"s shooting schedule got somewhat messed up.

Says a source close to Dutt, “Sanjay Dutt was supposed to complete the current schedule of Knock-Out and then move on to Indra Kumar"s Dhamaal Part 2, the next schedule of Anees Bazmi"s No Problem and the remaining portion of Bunty Walia"s Lamhaa. But suddenly Sanjay got a call from Amar Singh asking him to campaign for the by-elections in Maharashtra."

When Amar Singh summons, Sanjay Dutt hears no other voice. Says the source, “Sanjay immediately gave the dates required. Resultantly his schedules were thrown off by two weeks."

Two weeks in itself would"ve not been such a setback were it not for the beard. Apparently Dutt refused to shave off the beard to work on other pending projects simultaneously with Knock-Out.

Says the source, “Sanjay feels a false beard would cut into the authenticity of his character in Knock-Out. He refused to shave off the beard and take on the other projects after the delay caused by the by-elections. He requested other producers to push up their dates until he could finish with his bearded look."

Dutt has now decided that he would hold a 'Look" for his film even if it means cutting down on his assignments. In fact after he was unable to shave off his beard during Knock-Out he gave others producers the option of signing someone else.