MID-DAY (October 9, 2014)

Sudhir Mishra’s upcoming film, Aur Devdas, has gone on the floors but with a major change — Kajal Aggarwal, who had been signed on to play Chandramukhi’s character, has been replaced by Aditi Rao Hydari.

A source close to the project revealed that Sudhir Mishra had earlier finalised Kajal Aggarwal in the multi-starrer film. However, due to date issues, she had to opt out and that’s when Aditi stepped in. A source says, “Everything was finalised and Kajal was on board but she had some date problems and was in talks with the makers over certain other issues. However, things were set on the production side and the shooting was scheduled to start. A lot of actors are involved in the film and their dates were worked out accordingly. The shoot couldn’t have stopped for one person. Aditi was initially being considered for the role and so, she was finally cast.”

Mishra is credited for launching Aditi Rao Hydari in his film, Yeh Saali Zindagi. She will soon be seen in The Legend of Michael Mishra.

Meanwhile, Shruti Haasan was supposed to be a part of Puri Jagannadh’s upcoming Telugu film, tentatively titled Kummestha, which stars NT Rama Rao Jr. However, the latest buzz has it that she has been dropped from the project with Kajal Aggarwal replacing her. A source says, “Shruti was initially approached for the film and she agreed to do it as she liked the script. The process of signing on the dotted line and other formalities had been completed. But, we were recently told that she is no more a part of the film and Kajal Aggarwal has been brought on board.” It is being said that the Shruti was not allotting proper dates to the makers, which led to her being shown the door.

Reportedly, the actress was being considered for an item number in the film but sources suggest even that is not working out. “Shruti recently did an item number, which went on to become quite popular. That is why the makers were planning to cast her in the item song. However, for that too, she could not devote time and finally, they went ahead with newcomer Nora Fatehi.”

Puri Jagannadh quashed the buzz about having initially approached Shruti for his film. “It is not true. Shruti was never a part of my film,” he said.

Shruti, on the other hand, remained unavailable for comment on the buzz.