Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 7, 2015)

In an earlier interview to Mirror (September 14), Sushant Singh Rajput, who is presently shooting for Neeraj Pandey's biopic on cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had revealed that he had given the nod to seven scripts and might do at least three of them. Now Mirror has learnt that one of the scripts is Mohit Suri's next, a movie adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's bestselling novel, Half Girlfriend.

"Sushant dropped by at my place last week and enacted one of the scenes from the book where Madhav is giving an interview for admission to a college. He was brilliant and added his own dimensions to the character," says Mohit, pointing out that Sushant who was one of his assistants on Raaz: The Mystery Continues fits the role to the T.

Madhav is a Bihari boy and Sushant has lived in Patna, has a few Bihari friends and knows the language well. Mohit will be doing a couple of workshops with him once he is back from the MS Dhoni: The Untold Story schedule. "Since he plays a national-level basketball player, he'll have to train in the sport," he informs.

The director who finished writing the final draft of the script on October 15, insists Sushant was always his first choice for the role. "Contrary to rumours, I hadn't approached anyone else. Sidharth (Malhotra) and Alia (Bhatt) had come to see Hamari Adhuri Kahani during the edit and people concluded that I had cast them. I'd love to work with Alia but she is busy with her commitments and I don't think that she has even read the book," says Mohit.

The film is expected to roll early next year. However, the filmmaker is yet to decide on his leading lady. "I have discussed the script with Katrina (Kaif) and I would love to work with her, but nothing has been confirmed as yet," concludes Suri.