Katrina Kaif Left Out of Partner Sequel

If all had gone well David Dhawan's Partner 2 bringing together Salman and Govinda to reprise their 2007 roles, would've started in August exactly two years after the first part of Partner.

However Anil Sharma's time-consuming film Veer took longer to complete than expected, and the sequel to Partner has now been moved forward. A new schedule has to be worked out although the two actors' dates were locked in!

Confirming this unfortunate development Partner's producer Sohail Khan who is also Salman Khan's co-star in Veer says, "Partner 2 is supposed to be start-to-finish film . We had blocked Salmanbhai and Govinda's dates for 90 days at a stretch. However now Salmanbhai would be taking a break before going into Partner."

But that apart there seems to be another reason for the film's delay. Partner 2 is yet to find the right leading ladies. Sohail more or less confirms that Katrina Kaif and Lara Dutta won't be part of the project.

"Partner is our production house's proudest brand name. We can't be careless with it. The core team of Partner is Salmanbhai and Govinda. The story will now move forward with them. We hope to start the film as soon the dates of the other artistes including the two heroines is worked out."

In the meanwhile Salman will take some time off after Veer. Says Sohail, "Neither Salmanbhai or I have ever done anything like Veer. It's probably his first costume drama, and mine. We shot in Rajasthan and London, and it's been gruelling."

This is the first time that Sohail plays his brother's brother. "That's true," laughs Sohail. "In most of our films together we"re fighting for the girl. This is the first time we fought the world together from the same side. And it was great fun."