Raj Kumar Hirani is on the look out for the third actor for his screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's bestseller Five Point Something with Abhishek Bachchan out of the race.
Previously the Munnabhai director had narrowed in on Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Jimmy Shergill. However, the latest news suggests that Abhishek is out of the film and Hirani has begun his search again.
"Earlier the star cast included Abhishek, SRK and Jimmy. SRK has been a definite for awhile now. He is very eager to work with Raju especially since he turned him down for Munnabhai… the role was then offered to Sanju and as they say the rest is history. Jimmy was another sure choice because both Raju and Vidhu consider him their lucky mascot," says a source, "but now Abhishek is suddenly out of the project."
A close associate of SRK says that the actor is "close to finalising dates" for the project. Shergill, on the other hand, has been a part of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's latest three ventures – Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munnabhai and Eklavya – The Royal Guard though in small roles.
The source goes on to add that the director is now hoping to take on a new face to replace Abhishek. "They were in discussions with Abhishek too and it was pretty sure that he was a part of it. But now he is out. And Raju plans to replace Abhishek's part with a new person. He is keen to take on someone who is relatively new. They feel a fresh face will be able to give their movie an edge."
We tried contacting Raj Kumar Hirani but the director was not available for comment.
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