Feroz Khan-Dharmendra to play warring Dad

One of the unending joys of watching Nia Vardalos' screen adaptation of My Big Fat Greek Wedding was to savour the cultural clash between the respective fathers of lovers.

Now in My Punjabi Nikka, director Sohail Khan brings Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor as the culturally opposed Muslim –Punjabi lovers.

And for the roles of the fathers , producer-director Sohail has planned to sign Feroz Khan and Dharmendra who were last seen together as Saira Banu's warring suitors in B.R. Chopra's Aadmi Aur Insaan more than 3 decades ago.

"The roles of the two fathers have been written with Ferozeji and Dharamji in mind. I can't imagine any other two actors playing the parts. I've sounded them out. And now I'm waiting for their green signal. And then we're on," says Sohail Khan who's currently doing frantic pre-production work for two large productions.

"In November I start David Dhawan's film with Salmanbhai and Govinda. In December we go into My Punjabi Nikka. That's why I had to back out of Harman Baweja's film to be directed by Vikram Bhatt. Believe me, I was really keen to do it. Harman is a really nice kid. And it killed me to finally back out.

But I had warned my good friend Zayed Khan(who's also in the cast) a week before that it would be really hard for me to accommodate Harman's film in my schedule. I had even made it clear that I'd be willing to stay on the project if they couldn't find a substitute. I was really amazed at the speed with which they found a replacement for me. It didn't even take a few hours, I believe!"

Sohail is focusing entirely on his production plans. "I'm not going to feature in the cast of my either production, with David Dhawan or the one that I'm directing(My Punjabi Nikka). I've burnt my hands in trying to act and produce at the same time."

However Sohail is current acting with Big Brother Salman in writer-turned-director Rumi Jaffrey's comedy God Tussi Great Ho. "I love doing comedy. I enjoyed my cartoonish role in David Dhawan's Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya. Rumi is also writing My Punjabi Nikka. My comfort level with him is great."