Sonakshi to romance with Akshay & Imran in Once Upon a time in Mumbai

Sonakshi Sinha at MMK College Akarshan Fest. Photo: FilmiTadka (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The whole idea to the conflict in the sequel is a woman, therefore we have two men and only one woman," says director Milan Luthria, while putting to rest all rumours with respect to a parallel female lead in the much awaited and anticipated sequel to "Once Upon A Time In Mumbai".

Indian actor Akshay Kumar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He says, "This franchise (OUATIM) is a very entertaining franchise - we don't have the usual blood and gore that is associated with the underworld - our world is larger than life and we focus on the underworld that existed during 70s and 80s, and with the sequel, we want to bring back the romantic triangle set in the Mumbai underworld," adding, "The story connects to the point in the 80s where the underworld was fascinated with the women in Bollywood and the starlets in B-Town too were attracted to smugglers and dons. So we have Akshay Kumar and Imran Khan as the gangsters and Sonakshi Sinha as the starlet."

So does Sonakshi really plays Mandakini's role or her character is a take off from the starlet's life? "There is a lot of fact-meets-fiction in the sequel. In fact there is more of fiction than facts in the second part, but yes, Sonakshi plays the moll," says Milan. But why Sonakshi? "Because Sonakshi has a very Indian sex appeal. I had met her before "Dabangg" released. I had gone to Salman's house for dinner and the whole team of "Dabangg" was there - it was at Salman's place where I saw Sonakshi and was awestruck by her simplicity and grace. A lot of my casting is instinctive and when I saw Sonakshi, I felt she would be well-suited the role of a demure girl, who comes to the city of dreams to make a name for herself," says the director.

But more than Sona, it is Imran Khan and his role in the sequel that has Milan super excited. "You wait and watch for Imran. I have a feeling that our sequel will do to Imran, what "The Dirty Picture" did to Vidya Balan," gushes Milan, as he goes on to explain why he thinks Imran fits the bill. "We chose Imran because of his mass appeal. He is extremely popular among young girls and the college going crowd, but with the sequel, he will be seen in an entirely different form. This is exactly what we did with Vidya - we gave her a different colour that was out of her comfort zone.

Imran too will be seen in something that's in stark contrast to his image. His character has humour, action, witty one-liners and flamboyance, but he plays a typical sadak chhaap gangster with a heart of gold," shares Milan.