India, Dec. 31 -- Abhishek Chaubey's 2010 directorial debut Ishqiya had quite an interesting cast in Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, and Vidya Balan. However, in an interview with Mashable, Abhishek revealed the initial casting was drastically different. (Also Read: Vidya Balan had to work 'doubly hard' to match up to Madhuri Dixit's former co-stars, Aishwarya Rai and Karisma Kapoor)

"Initially, Pankaj (Tripathi) ji was supposed to play Khalujan (the role eventually essayed by Naseeruddin Shah) and Irrfan (Khan) was to play Babban (the role later taken up by Arshad Warsi). At various points, Lara Dutta was approached, but Preity Zinta was finalised. She had read an earlier draft, liked it a lot, and was on board. I then left for New York...