Himesh works around hurdles in

Till a few days ago, music-director-turned-singer-turned actor Himesh Reshammiya's dream project, a remake of "Karz", was as good as shelved, thanks to speculations that Farah Khan's "Om Shanti Om" has a plot similar to the orginal "Karz".The makers of the "Karz" remake panicked as they thought there was not much time left for making major changes to the script. They had almost decided to scrap the project. That's when cool dude Himesh came to the rescue. After all, how could he let go of a film for which he is working so hard to lose his weight and get his looks right.

A source says: "The script of the movie has been reworked on and now it is final that the movie would not be scrapped. However, Himesh would not essay a double role as thought of before. The role played by Raj Kiran in the original "Karz" would be portrayed by a newcomer, while Himesh plays just Rishi Kapoor's part. It is learnt that Himesh himself made these changes and many more , too, in the script. The film-makers are now focusing on beginning the shoot soon."

The source adds: "Himmesh was very upset and hurt when he heard that his dream project was about to get scrapped. So he started looking for solutions from Day One itself. The charismatic singer-actor loves the plot of the original "Karz" as it was, perhaps, the only movie in those times which dealt with the concept of rebirth. The same person was played by two different actors, Raj Kiran and Rishi Kapoor."

The shooting of the movie will now start in January, 2008, as decided upon earlier. Himesh will act, sing, and direct at the same time. Meanwhile, the actor is also doing a movie with Pooja Bhatt, which would be shot in Europe and Pakistan.