Mohit Suri blames talent hunt for 'Aashiqui 2' delay

Mohit Suri was in search of new faces for "Aashiqui 2", but the idea turned out to be a disaster. He not only had to zero in on Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Raj Kapoor for the film, but the project got delayed as well.

"The talent hunt was the reason for the delay. May be I am a little choosy, but the people we were looking from talent hunt, did not match the character," Suri told IANS.

He admits he hasn't settled for "a big star after that".

"These are the actors who have non successful films behind them, but I believe they will give life to the film. Now I am dying to start the project, and I think we should start next month," he said.

Producer Mahesh Bhatt also says the idea of a talent hunt was a "disaster".

"After a disastrous talent hunt which we plead guilty of, we discovered that people didn't have the courage to audition. It was a genuine hunt for talent and I have always tried for new talents. We tried, we failed, it was a disaster and we could have managed it better," he said.

However, he is content with the current casting -- Shraddha, last seen in "Luv Ka The End" and Aditya, who made his Bollywood debut at 53 with 2010 film "Chase".

"We have learnt a lesson. Our intention was to make a film and not to take auditions. So we came back and looked for actors who would suit our characters. They are not stars, but they are people with certain amount of maturity," added Bhatt, who had helmed 1990 film "Aashiqui", featuring Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal.

However, Suri has maintained "Aashiqui 2" is not a sequel to the movie.