Himesh Reshammiya's The Xpose revolves around a death that takes place in a fivestar hotel after a gltizy awards night. It is the trigger for the film's narrator, Alec D'Costa, played by Irrfan Khan, to expose the dark underbelly of the Hindi film industry and unmask its larger-than-life superstars.

Himesh, who lost 20 kg through a year of organic dieting and workouts, plays Ravi Kumar. He is a former cop thrown out of the force following an accidental death in custody, who goes on to become a charismatic and enigmatic star who supposedly bears an uncanny resemblance to Raaj Kumar.

The characters of two actresses, Chandni, enacted by a former Miss India Zoya Afroz, and Zara, brought to life by another debutante Sonali Raut, are reportedly inspired by Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman, who broke away from the image of a stereotypical heroine to set the benchmark for Bollywood's sex symbols.

The rivalry between the two exploded in several catfights, including one at a city hotel when they almost came to blows. This incident along with other real-life references, are believed to have found their way into the film's script.

Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan is tightlipped on this, but admits that there's a song sequence which is a tribute to Raj Kapoor's Satyam Shivam Sundaram with Sonali in a white half-sari which is almost a replica of Zeenat's iconic get-up.

"We created a set of a temple in ruins at Filmistan Studio. There is no roof and hence the rain streams in, soaking Zara to the skin as she pours water over the Shivling while singing the title track of a film being shot within the film. Ujjwal, Nirmal, Sheetal is a classical number composed by Himesh but on the lines of Satyam Shivam Sundaram's Bhor bhaye panghat pe," elaborates Ananth.