“The Khers are like a family to Ravi Rai, the director of the film, but that is not the reason he took Vrinda on board. In fact, some 40 girls participated in the auditions, out of which Vrinda was confirmed,” reveals a source close to the project.

Maya ... is a story of five strangers, which includes two girls and three boys, who come to the land of opportunities, Mumbai and become friends after sharing an apartment. The film stars Ali Fazal in the lead along with newbies Namit Das, Aman Uppal, Sara Khan and Vrinda Kher.

“Apart from the five youngsters, the movie features a newbie who plays the role of Maya, a prostitute. Interestingly,the character has only one scene in the film,” says the source.

Unveiling the plot, the source adds, “The three male leads arrive in Mumbai to become actors, but even after a lot of struggle, none of them succeed.”

Shot at real locations in Mumbai, the film is 80 per cent ready, with only the last schedule to be canned in mid December.

South debutant to replace Ronit in Jaffna

It was earlier reported that Ronit Roy was to play an important character in John Abraham’s Jaffna. Now, news is that the deal which was on the verge of being finalised has been called off.

Confirms the actor, “I met director Shoojit Sircar who narrated the role to me. I was very eager to play the part that was offered to me. Unfortunately the film’s schedule clashed with my dates reserved for Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly. I am also shooting for my TV show Adaalat. I did try to adjust my dates and allotted the team of Jaffna six days, but it was not possible for them to reschedule their plans. So sadly the deal had to be called off.”

With Ronit being out, Sircar is now hunting for an actor from South to play the part of the RAW agent. “It will not be an established South actor, but a debutant,” confirms the director.