But overnight, the film went into Pritish Nandy's hands and now, it is about to roll on September 12 though with a different cast. Sanjay Suri, who was supposed to play Bhatt's alter ego, has been replaced by Aftab Shivdasani [Images].

Busy with the release of his new film Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina, Nandy took time off to explain, "I was in for Sanjay Suri in the cast. However, I left the final casting decisions to Vikram."

More surprising than the ouster of Suri in favour of Shivdasani is the inclusion of Esha Deol [Images] in the place of Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta in the mercurial Other Woman's role.

"It will be a wonderful opportunity for Esha to grow as an actress. I liked her work in Harry Baweja's Main Aisa Hi Hoon. She has an untamed quality needed for the female protagonist's role in Aakhir. Besides, she shared a close friendship with Aftab in the past. That would bring certain amount of fascinating frisson."

Incidentally, Esha is doing another film for Pritish Nandy, to be directed by Meghna Gulzar [Images]. Titled Honeymoon, it costars Fardeen Khan [Images].

The third angle of Bhatt's volatile triangle is bound to raise eyebrows. The director's close friend and companion Amisha Patel [Images] has been penciled in to play the wife's part in place of Divya Dutta [Images].