Barring the Salman Khan-Ajay Devgn starrer London Dreams (2009), Vipul Amrutlal Shah has always collaborated with Akshay Kumar for his directorial ventures. Naturally then, eyebrows were raised when he roped in Arjun Kapoor for Namaste England. More so, since the prequel - Namastey London (2007) - featured the superstar and was a runaway hit.

The filmmaker reveals it was Kumar's idea to take the franchise ahead. "Akshay came up with the story of Namaste England. I had planned to make it with him. However, things did not work out due to his busy date diary. In fact, it was Akshay who suggested that I roll the film with someone else," recalls Shah.