Boney pairs Ayesha with Salman

After hunting around for a heroine in every nook and corner of the film industry, Boney Kapoor has finally zeroed in on Ayesha Takia as Salman Khan's leading lady in "Wanted Dead and Alive", a Hindi remake of the Tamil blockbuster "Pokhiri".

Many names, including Kangana Ranaut and Deepika Padukone, were considered.

"But we decided finally on Ayesha. Both Sridevi and I feel she's an under-utilised bundle of talent, just waiting to explode," Boney told IANS.

"We saw her in Nagesh Kukunoor's 'Dor' and decided she was it. No two ways about it. The girl will go very far if she watches her steps," he added.

But there's another reason.

"We wanted to pair Salman with a heroine he has never worked with before. I want to create an aura of freshness around Salman through the cast factor," informed Boney.

"Therefore Ayesha, with whom Salman has never been cast before. We've also got Om Puri, Mahesh Manjrekar and Sayaji Shinde to play the other roles."

The crew of "Wanted Dead And Alive" leaves for Bangkok July 25 to shoot two songs.

"Interestingly, we've got Prabhu Deva, who's himself a choreographer, to direct and his brother Raju Sunderam to choreograph. I don't think we've ever had such a combination before."

The music for "Wanted Dead and Alive" is by Sajid-Wajid whose partnership with Salman goes back a long way to "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" and "Tere Naam" where they shared the billing with Himesh Reshammiya.

"Salman is a rare 4 a.m. friend in the industry. If you want he can be there for you at any time. He stood by me when my production house was going through a low and did 'No Entry' without talking about the money. I feel 'Wanted Dead and Alive' couldn't be made without Salman."

Indo-Asian News Service