MUMBAI: After Kahaani  a missing husband seems to be the new formula in Bollywood. Some time ago Jaya Bachchan had expressed  the desire to do a remake of her 1973 film ‘Phagun’ written and directed by Rajinder Singh Bedi, where Waheeda Rehman’s husband played by Dharmendra goes missing. Jaya had played the daughter.

The remake, we hear, will star Jaya in the role that Waheeda Rehman immortalized. In the meanwhile another interesting film about a woman’s search for  her missing husband seems to be quietly being shot in several exotic out-of-the-way spots of North India including Shimla and Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly it stars the supremely gifted actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui who also played a pivotal role in ‘Kahaani’.

Nawazuddin is now gearing up to shoot for a very unusual road film called ‘Liar Dice’, directed by the Malayalam actress-director Geetu Mohandas. His co-star is the Sikkimese model-actress Geetajanli Thapa who plays a wife in search of her husband. Reveals Nawazuddin, “It’s about a girl looking for a husband. I play the man who helps her in the road trip to look for her husband.”

Uncanny similarity to Kahaani?

Shrugs Nawazuddin, “There may be some resemblance. But that’s just a coincidence. ‘Liar, Dice’ is  my first romantic film. But not the usual romance. It’s the story of a woman in search of her husband.I am the man who helps her in the search. Her journey begins in Himachal Pradesh and we travel by road to Delhi via Simla.It’s a start-to-finish road film to be shot on location. I am now shooting for the film non-stop till 6 April.”

Doesn’t ‘Liar Dice’ sound like ‘Kahaani’?

Says Nawazuddin, “You mean  the woman looking for her husband? But no two pursuits are the same. Every search has its own destiny and destination. Hopefully my search for roles of substance and with footage has ended.”