In February, director Abhinay Deo had confirmed to mid-day that he was gearing up for Aankhen 2 with Amitabh Bachchan, Sidharth Malhotra and Akshaye Khanna. Taking the story forward from the 2002 hit that had the megastar playing the mastermind who trains three blind men to rob a bank, the sequel was to be set in a casino. Now, it is heard that Bachchan and Malhotra have opted out of the heist thriller.

According to the initial plan, the film was to be shot in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe with Malhotra, Khanna and Sunil Grover in May, with Bachchan expected to join them later.

A trade source reveals, “In the past two months, there was little progress on the impending schedule. Since the film was taking longer than expected to go on floors, Bachchan saab and Sidharth could no longer put their other projects on hold and graciously bowed out of the movie. Sidharth will be tied up for the next few months with Mission Majnu and Thank God while Bachchan saab started shooting for Goodbye.” 

The makers, on the lookout for a fresh cast, have apparently knocked on the doors of Anil Kapoor and Rana Daggubati. mid-day reached out to Bachchan, Malhotra, Deo and producer Tarun Aggarwal, who remained unavailable for comment.