Hrithik to star with VJ Bruna

The thrills behind the thriller Anurag Basu is making for Rakesh Roshan with Hrithik in the lead are getting more thrilling than the film itself. The hunt for Hrithik's leading lady is getting more intense. Several names had been put onward. Apparently, Rakesh Roshan, who is very close to Anil Kapoor and very fond of Sonam, wanted to cast her. But Sonam, atrociously awake of her conservative image, begged off. The role requires the girl to get seriously sexy with Hrithik.

Says Hrithik, "I'd love to work with Sonam. But not on this project. The role doesn't do justice to her. We're looking at someone from overseas, someone Latin American or Brazilian. So yeah, in that sense this would be my first international project." Director Anurag Basu says Sonam doesn't suit the role. "We've looked at many names, known and unknown in Bollywood. But that 'it' factor elude us. I am getting quite jittery. The girl's role is extremely bold. Actually, we've decided to cast someone worldwide, preferably Brazilian, because that's the behavior and profile of the leading lady in my film."

According to reliable reports, the girl chosen for the part is the Channel V model Bruna Abdullah. Child of an Arabian mother and Brazilian father, Bruna has been stationed in Mumbai, waiting for Bollywood to happen. She performed an extremely bold item song for Anubhav Sinha's Cash recently. Says a close friend of the Arabian-Brazilian veejay dancer, "Bruna is extremely uninhibited before the camera. That is why she was brought into Channel V which needed a girl to rival the worldwide looks, personality, and body language of MTV's veejay Mia. Bruna has her eyes set on Bollywood. Anubhav's item song was her stepping-stone. Anurag's film with Hrithik is her next big move."

However, the director denies Bruna has been penciled in for the Hrithik project. "I don't deny meeting her, like we've met so many other girls for the part. But Bruna hasn't been finalize. But it'll surely be an intercontinental face." Adds Rakesh Roshan, "It'll be a Spanish -speaking girl. We want to show love has no barriers."