MUMBAI: Remember the nightmare that Late Bollywood filmmaker Yash Chopra went through in trying to find a parallel leading lady to Madhuri Dixit in ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’?

For all those fans of Madhuri Dixit who were hoping to see Kangna Ranaut match steps with the diva in Abhishek Choubey’s delayed-but-unforgotten ‘Dedh Ishqiya’, there’s bad news. Kangna Ranaut has opted out of the film, a Muslim Social set in Uttar Pradesh in and around Lucknow.

The usual ‘dates issues’  are being cited as the villain of the set-piece.

Says a source close to the project, “Much effort was made to convince Kangna to work out her problems, dates or whatever. But it seems unlikely she would be able to accommodate ‘Dedh Ishqiya’. Now with shooting to begin in mid-January Abhishek and his producer Vishal Bhardwaj have just a month to find a replacement. Finding a second heroine when a diva like Madhuri Dixit is already on board would be  a problem. Remember what Yash Chopra had to go through during the casting of the other female lead in ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ when he already had Madhuri opposite Shah Rukh?”

However director Abhishek Choubey seems confident. “It’s true that Kangna whom we were really keen to cast in the film with Madhuriji, Naseerji and Arshad is not being able to work out her dates. Only a miracle can now see her back in the project. However finding another actress shouldn’t be a problem. The other female part is no less interesting than Madhuriji’s.”