Kareena Kapoor, who had more or less committed to starring opposite Emraan Hashmi in a Dharma-Balaji co-production, is believed to have backed out of the film now. Although the actress is resorting to the age-old ‘no dates’ excuse, industry insiders say she has allegedly expressed reservations about working with the Murder star.

The film, described as an ‘unusual romantic comedy’, is to be directed by first-timer Akshay Roy. Both Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor, who are jointly producing this film, were excited by the unconventional casting coup they’d pulled off. Now there is some talk that the film may be shelved altogether.

Emraan Hashmi, who has evolved into a bankable leading man even outside his comfort zone (that is, adult thrillers produced mostly by the Bhatt banner), has had some trouble getting A-list actresses to work opposite him. All that looked like it was about to change after Vidya Balan signed No One Killed Jessica director Rajkumar Gupta’s next film Ghanchakkar opposite Emraan, and news broke around the same time that Kareena would be his co-star in the Dharma-Balaji collaboration.

Even without the Kareenas, Katrinas and Deepikas to star opposite him, Emraan has no shortage of A-list projects. After Dibakar Banerjee’s political thriller Shanghai opens in June, he’ll star in the Vishal Bhardwaj production Dayen, and in Kurbaan director Rensil D’Silva’s next for Dharma Productions.

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