Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 12, 2015)

After Vikramaditya Motwane decided to put his vigilante drama, Bhavesh Joshi on the back burner, Sidharth Malhotra has returned to mentor Karan Johar. He will soon start his fourth film for the banner with one of KJo's other students, and real-life love, Alia Bhatt. And since the third student, Varun Dhawan, will be shooting with Rohit Shetty and Shah Rukh Khan then, Fawad Khan, the eye candy from across the border, will complete the cast. The film, a family drama, will be helmed by Shakun Batra, who directed Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu and will roll in April.

Mirror had earlier reported (February 5) that Karan's mother, Hiroo Johar, has a special fondness for the Pakistani heartthrob, along with her kitty party friends. She even insisted that Fawad be signed up for one of Dharma's upcoming productions. While speculation was rife that Fawad is doing a cameo opposite Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Karan's directorial, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Mirror has learnt that KJo is in talks with Saif Ali Khan for the one-day appearance. And he was discussing a "full fledged role" with Fawad who was spotted coming in and out of the Dharma office since arriving in Mumbai.

It may be recalled that last year Shakun had written a story about two brothers on a holiday in a hill-station where one of them makes a dramatic revelation. "Karan didn't approve of the first script and Shakun has been working on a different version since then. He finally presented a draft to Karan a few weeks ago. KJo was so pleased with it that he wasted no time in locking the cast," informed a source. "It's a family-centric drama now and is nowhere similar to his first script."

Despite several attempts, Shakun Batra couldn't be reached for a comment.