KAREENA bags KJo-Balaji biggie

In December last year, Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor, the filmmakers who are also best friends, had announced their co-production venture. However, the leading lady for the ambitious project remained undecided. Reportedly, Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif were both being considered for the project. And now, Mumbai Mirror has learnt that Bebo has won the battle.

Kareena, who had reportedly opted out of two major projects - Rohit Shetty's Chennai Express and Milan Luthria's Once upon A Time In Mumbaai Part 2 recently, surely had bigger plans up her sleeve. A source close to the film told the newspaper, "Kareena has bagged a very big role in this film. Currently, she is Karan's favourite. He was very happy with her performance in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, directed by Shakun Batra."

In fact, Karan and Ekta have apparently had plans to work together for a very long time. The film that has finally realised their dream will be directed by newbie Akshay Roy. It will go on floors by December, this year.

Karan and Ekta, who have been meeting rather frequently to discuss the film, plan to finish the casting of their co-production by the end of this month.

Our source revealed, "Both Balaji and Dharma are considering Emraan Hashmi for the male lead. In fact, Emraan has recently signed his first Dharma production to be directed by Rensil D'Silva."