Sujoy Ghosh's Saif starrrer shelved due to budget issues

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With Happy Ending completing a hattrick of flops for Saif Ali Khan, buzz was that Ekta Kapoor's adaptation of Japanese bestseller, The Devotion of Suspect X, may not see the light of the day. 

But, Mirror has learnt that although the budget is being reworked, the project is on track. Confirming this , Tanveer Bookwala, Chief Creative Officer of Balaji, said: "It'll roll in April." Is the studio thinking of replacing Saif? "No, he is very much a part of the project," he asserted. Countering rumours that director Sujoy Ghosh has been asked to rework the script, Bookwala said: "Sujoy and Pratim D Gupta have written a spectacular script, with Sujoy's Kahaani co-writer Suresh Nair as the supervisor." 

Bookwala is tight-lipped on the identity of the heroine but according to a source close to the development, Jacqueline Fernandez, who has worked with Sujoy in Aladin earlier, is on the verge of being finalised. The source said: "She's figuring out her dates while other modalities are being worked out." 

This is no dancingaround-the-confers kind of a role. She will play a mother of an eight-year-old who is also the prime suspect in her husband's murder. Saif will essays the role of her neighbour who is a mathematics professor. 

Another character, a cop who is also a maths enthusiast - is yet to be cast. The film will be mostly shot in Kalimpong. Sujoy had done a recee of the hill-station for another project, Durga Rani Singh. 

After Kangna Ranaut dropped out, that project has been put on the back burner. "The locations he chose then will be seen in this film. Devotion is just the working title. Eventually, they will come up with an apt Hindi one," the source said.