Mira Nair seems to be rather short on the luck factor as far as regards Bollywood stars. Previously, she was all gung ho over casting Rani Mukerji in The Namesake (2006), a screen adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer prize winning novel. The film was to showcase Rani in the role of a Bengali woman, though the actress firstly cited "date hassles", but later on went to record to state that she thumbed down the project as "the role wasn't substantial enough."
And then there was talk that Konkona Sen Sharma was to be the star substitute for Rani in the film, though plans on that score did not fructify either… and soon Nair signed on Tabu, who signed on all the lines (dotted and otherwise) and went on to win acclaim on the national and international front for her depiction of Ashima in The Namesake.
The newest in line to extend the royal snub…. is Ranbir Kapoor! Seemingly, the actor has thumbed down the role of Changez Khan in The Reluctant Fundamentalist as he's not too keen to be part of an international ensemble cast that has other Hollywood stars too sharing the spotlight. This, after the internationally feted moviemaker chasing him for more than a year!
A close source revealed to the media, "Mira Nair was very keen to cast Ranbir for her film as he felt that he had the innocence and dynamic personality together with the acting abilities needed to portray Changez Khan in her movie."
Previously, there was tittle-tattle that Shahid Kapoor was being considered for, though Nair has strongly refuted all such talk. Later, the media vine was abuzz with the news that Prateik was being considered for the role, and that he'd also given a screen test to test his chances, although there has been no affirmation on whether he's on the (cinematic) board as yet…
