Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has been granted four more weeks of freedom before he is due to start a prison term for firearms offences.

The actor was granted a reprieve at India's Supreme Court on Wednesday (17Apr13) after he filed an appeal asking to postpone his sentence by a month in order to complete current film projects.

The 53 year old has at least four movies in the works, including Peekay, Policegiri, Unglee, and a reboot of the 1973 classic Zanjeer.

Dutt's lawyer, Harish Salve, tells Reuters, "(He has) four weeks... to surrender," while Policegiri producer Rahul Aggarwal adds, "He is thankful, but he is still under pressure as to how he can finish six months of work in a month."

Dutt had been due to begin a five-year prison stint on or before Thursday (18Apr13) following a conviction for buying weapons from bombers responsible for the 1993 terrorist blasts in Mumbai, India.

He previously spent 18 months behind bars before appealing against his six-year sentence. He was freed on bail while he fought the case and a judge recently cut the sentence to five years.