musical chairs? Apoorva Lakhia and Zayed Khan

After Mission Istaanbul, Apoorva Lakhia had promised Zayed Khan that he would feature in his next, tentatively titled Chaddi Buddee. But on Saturday, after hearing that the director was screening other actors for the role, Khan walked out.

No script in place

An industry source reveals, "Zayed Khan stuck with Apoorva even after the dismal performance of Mission Istaanbul. The director even gifted the actor an expensive watch to show his gratitude. Appu, in return, promised Zayed his next, to be produced by Sohail Maklai (maker of Dus and Cash).

The producer-director duo has been all over the African continent in the past three weeks location hunting but apparently they don't have a single draft in place. The main moneybags behind the project Sa Re Ga Ma Movies are unaware that the producer and director have been living it up at their expense."

The source further adds, "But Zayed got the shock of his life when he told someone that he was going to do Appu's next. When the actor was told that Appu was last seen approaching Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor for the project, Khan lost his cool. He called up Lakhia who had returned after his 'location-hunting'.

He asked the director if what he had heard was true. The director denied it, saying Zayed was the only one. Late last Saturday, Zayed phoned Appu again and told him politely that he was not interested in the film anymore because he had no story in place and for wasting the dates he had kept aside for the project."

Tiwari, Zayed's business manager, is clueless. "I haven't had a word with Zayed regarding this particular project. Anyway, I think the best person to talk about this film has to be Sohail (Maklai)."