John Abraham’s romantic lead in Hera Pheri 3 will be model-turned-actress Sakshi Chaudhary.

The girl from Dehradun is being kept strictly under wraps by the protective producer as he wishes to unveil his debutante elaborately. One got to know of the newcomer after Firoz was overheard raving about Sakshi whom he had seen in a South Indian film.

Says the source, “When Firoz met the young hopeful  actress he was very impressed by her confidence, poise and beauty. He immediately signed her for a three-film deal. The first of these would be the long-delayed third film in the Hera Pheri franchise which got stalled after Firoz’s fall-out with Akshay Kumar. John has now taken over the franchise. The leading lady just fell into place when Sakshi walked into Firoz’s office.”

Sakshi is the winner of Gladrags Mega Model Hunt 2011. She has done the Telugu film Portugadu opposite Manoj Manchu.