"I'm still shell-shocked by Neil's last-minute opting out. It's true that I planned another project called Fame with him. But I was never too happy with it. When I heard someone else was making the film, I happily scrapped Fame and decided to make Good Night instead. It's an idea that has been with me for many years, and very close to my heart. I narrated the idea to Neil and he was very kicked by it."

Next on Tigmanshu's list was Sunil. "I went to Suneil Shetty for the role of the negative lead. He very clearly told me he doesn't do negative roles any more. And in any case, he said he does only one film a year now. But I insisted on narrating it to him. When Suneil heard the idea, he immediately agreed. Now, with the two main leads in place, my crew proceeded to Bikaner for a recce."

A shock awaited Tigmanshu when he returned from Rajasthan. "Neil said he wouldn't be doing the film until the script was ready. I had yet to work out a portion of the script. So how could I show it to him? He said, in that case let's do it in winter or in 2009. How could a project that was to begin in February 2008 be pushed to 2009?"

As things stand now, Tigmanshu's film, tentatively titled Good Night, which was supposed to start on February 15, is now indefinitely postponed. Neil has apparently returned the signing amount. And Tigmanshu has moved on. "I'm working now on the post-production of Shagird. One day of the shooting with Nana remains to be done. We had to cancel because of his injured leg. After that, it's time for me to do that fun film with Govinda for TV 18."

Courtesy: IndiaFM