by Subhash K Jha

It was supposed to be the casting coup of the season. Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra together as sisters in Dharmesh Darshan's Aap Ki Khatir.

The two former beauty queens and friends coming together after their joint debut in Suneel Darshan's block-bust-er Andaz.

So what happened? Because Ms Dutts decided to do a disappearing act from this, Dharamesh's makeover film. The panic-stricken director approached Amisha Patel to take Lara Dutta's place. Ms Patel has graciously agreed to step into Lara's place. Otherwise Aap Ki Khatir would have been in serious trouble.

What could be the reason for the ever-professional Ms Dutta's change of mind? The official reason given is .... The usual date problems. But according to those in the know, there's more to Ms Dutta's 'no' than meets the eye.

Says a source close to the project, "She obviously got insecure about being in the same frame as Priyanka who has made a lot more headway since they first started togther. Lara's friends are contstantly reminding her of Priyanka's wise moves as compared with Lara's own rather shabby career choices.

When the two started together doing Andaz they were neck to neck. Lara couldn't be happy with how far she got left behind. Coming together for another movie would only have reminded people of the two actress' differing star value."

Priyanka seems clueless about the reason for the eleventh-hour change. "Lara and I have never had any problems. In fact I'll always cherish how much she did for me when I was just starting out. And we had GREAT fun doing Andaz together. I was really looking forward to working with her again.

Since we were playing sisters we had lots and lots of scenes together. Though I regret the change I really enjoyed working with Amisha. Dharmesh is such a ladies' director and a truly dependable friend."