Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 2, 2014)

A few weeks ago, Mirror had reported that Aamir Khan has opted out of Excel Entertainment’s time-travel drama (March 7). The actor and the studio had failed to agree on the remuneration and commercial clauses. Now, we have learnt that the production house has signed Hrithik Roshan to step into the role. He will be paired with Deepika Padukone who had famously expressed her desire to work with the hunky star. The film will be directed by debutante Nitya Mehra, who has served as an assistant director on films like Life of Pi, The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Don.

 Revealed a source close to the production, “The film is a sci-fi drama with a time-travel spin. It has a romantic angle which spans across timelines. When the script went to Hrithik, he was impressed and promptly agreed to come on board.”

 Deepika had committed to the project, long before Aamir abandoned it. The source added, “It’s a film which will be made on a lavish scale and is expected to go on floors in February 2015 by which time she should be done with Karan Johar's Shuddhi."

 We sent a text message to Hrithik, but he chose not to comment.

 Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment heard us out and replied with a terse "No comments."