Ileana opp Akki in OUATIM 2

In 2006, Rakesh Roshan directed her in a beauty cream ad. Ileana D'Cruz has come a long way since then. Making her debut in Telugu film Devadasu, the Bombay born girl moved on to become one of the biggest South Indian sirens with hits like Jalsa, Pokkiri and Kick.

And now after making her big Bollywood debut opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Anurag Basu's Barfee, her careergraph seems to have taken a leap uphill.

Balaji Motion Pictures have zeroed down on the 23-year-old actress to play the role of Mandakini, who was allegedly involved with Dawood, for their film Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Part 2, which is based on the life of the dreaded gangster.

Balaji, it seems, has taken note of her svelte figure which would obviously be a criteria while selecting someone to play Mandakini, the role which had two more contenders, Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, who are certainly bigger actresses than Ileana.

While Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif the two original choices for the controversial portrayal are still somewhat in the running, our source said, "The modalities are fast being worked out with Ileana.

The people who matter in this project will not talk about it now, but an official announcement in this regard will come shortly."

While Balaji officials chose to put it diplomatically, saying, "She is one of the contenders for Mandakini's part", a source very close to the film confirmed, "Ileana will star opposite Akshay in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Part 2. Final ho gaya hai."

More about Mandakini…

She created quite a stir by exposing her assets in Raj Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili. But soon, her career nosedived. She quit films after the forgettable Zordaar.

Later, it was alleged that she had even moved to Dubai to be with Dawood. Mandakini had vehemently denied all this.

She had claimed that they did not know each other personally, let alone being a couple.

She had also pointed out that she had been married to R. Thakur, a doctor in Mumbai. In January 2010, her husband had said that Mandakini would be co-directing an English film with him- but after that, we haven't heard anything on that project.