It does not come as a surprise that Abhishek Bachchan has opted out of a film on the grounds of dates, considering he is one of the busiest stars today (according to his appointment diary, Abhishek is supposed to be as busy as his father). But, what is a surprise is that Abhishek Bachchan has chosen to opt out of Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay in favour of an English film by Mani Ratnam.

The casting of the senior and junior Bachchan as Gabbar Singh and Veeru in the new-age 'gangsterised' version of Ramesh Sippy's classic, might or might not be as 'gimmicky' as Varma seems to have lately realised.

Abhishek's decision to not work on Varma's Sholay was more on practical grounds than moral - he just couldn't give the equally busy Varma the dates that he required for his neo-avatar of Sholay.

Abhishek's dates were committed to his Yuva-director Mani Ratham, for the director's first film in the English language. The film will be shot at a stretch in London next year.

Both Abhishek and the ever-secretive Rathnam are tightlipped about the project. Says Abhishek, "I can't say anything about the project right now."

But a source close to the actor confirms, "The Abhishek-Mani Rathnam project is definitely on. It's Mani's and also Abhishek's first English-language film."

"Since he truly enjoyed working with Mani in Yuva, he was very keen to do so again. The only problem was the dates that were clashing with Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay. And since Abhishek is already doing two more films with Varma - Ek and Sarkar 2 - both with his dad Amitabh Bachchan, he rightly opted for Mani's film, over Ramu's Sholay."