Saif Ali Khan not first choice for ‘Cocktail’

With the ‘Love Aaj Kal’ (2009) team back together for ‘Cocktail’, people can hardly wait for its release. However, it has emerged that,��at the beginning of the project, Saif Ali Khan was not the first choice.

Producer Dinesh Vijan is quite close to the actor and has been in business with him for the past 7 years and this is why reports as per Hindustan Times are surprising. The script for ‘Cocktail’ had only been in its early drafting stage��with Imtiaz Ali but��it wasn’t until Vijan developed it that��Khan became interested as Vijan states, “Saif read the script and decided he wanted in…His humour in the first half and maturity post-interval gives Cocktail a heady twist.”

Another interesting fact is that of the casting of Diana Penty who plays the girl-next-door type, Meera.��Vijan and director Homi Adajania saw��Penty at first glance and felt she would be perfect for the role. “At a glance, we felt that despite the perfect smile and polished looks, Diana was the shy, girl-next-door Meera. She has that classic Indian look. After two auditions, both Homi and I agreed that she was right for the role, even though we had to de-glam her, make her less perfect and more awkward,” Vijan stated.

‘Cocktail’ is due to release on 13th July and also stars Deepika Padukone.