MID-DAY (August 1, 2016)

Did Rajkummar Rao just lose Kangana Ranaut-starrer Simran to Sohum Shah? Well placed sources have revealed that director Hansal Mehta is on the verge of locking the Ship of Theseus actor as Kangana’s love interest in the adventure drama.

Last week, reports suggested that Rajkummar was likely to team up with his Queen costar in Simran and when asked about it, the actor maintained a I-can’t-talk-about-it stance. Hansal shares a close rapport with the actor with the duo having collaborated for three critically acclaimed films — Shahid, Citylights and Aligarh.

A source says, “The character required a mature actor and Hansal felt that Sohum suited it better. So, he has decided to cast him instead of Rajkummar.” Sohum was last seen in Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar (2015) as a cop. The actor and Hansal remained unavailable for comment.

Simran is loosely based on the exploits of an Indian origin nurse who earned the moniker ‘Bombshell Bandit’ for a spate of robberies in the US in 2014. The NRI nurse, Sandeep Kaur, pulled off a series of heists in three American states to pay off gambling debts. She was later convicted and awarded a 66-month prison sentence in the US. Kangana will be seen portraying the role of a Gujarati housekeeper called Praful Patel. Produced by Bhushan Kumar and Shailesh Singh, the movie is scripted by Apurva Asrani. The film will go on floors this August and will be shot in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco and Atlanta.