Is Fardeen really a part of BASRA?

Ever since director Navdeep Singh (of MANORAMA SIX FEET UNDER fame) has announced his next film BASRA with Akshaye Khanna and Madhavan, there have been speculations around the third principal character in the movie. While there have been different names floating around for the name of the chief baddie in the film, a couple of media sources have even tagged actor Fardeen Khan for the role.

Navdeep Singh denies though that Fardeen has been signed for the role. "No, not at all", he protests, "I have no clue whatsoever that from where did this all begin. It's all a rumor because I have not even spoken to him about the role. I wish people would have checked facts with me before putting it all on record. After all I am just a phone call away."

He admits though that he has been in search for more actors in his film. While Akshaye and Madhavan are the main leads in the film, there are some other important roles to be accommodated for.

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An espionage thriller, the film already has a leading lady in place in the form of Shahana Goswami who plays a journalist in the film though the hunt is one for the one more heroine. On the other hand Madhavan enacts the role of a Mumbai cop while Akshaye plays an investigating officer.

Navdeep promises that the film would be an 'intelligent commercial thriller'. He explains the relevance of the film's title BASRA by revealing that 'Basra' is the name of a port in Iraq that has been existing for centuries. While the city forms a major part of the film's script, another notable fact about BASRA is that it is Iraq's second largest city after Baghdad and is also a historic location of Sumer, the home of 'Sindbad - The Sailor'.

The film is produced by Mukesh Talreja and Nikhil Advani and is expected to kick start its shooting stint beginning August. Meanwhile Navdeep is all positive that he would manage to get his remaining star cast in place by then.