Preity Zinta might very well play the lead role in Shaji Karun's Suryamukhi based on the life of the controversial painter Raja Ravi Varma after much speculation, Madhuri Dixit being first choice followed by Vidya Balan.

Producer Bobby Bedi is meeting Preity tomorrow, for her to sign on the dotted line.

The film is about the love affair between Raja Ravi Varma and a Maharastrian woman who posed for him.

Karun came down from Chennai and he and Bedi met Preity in Mumbai. Preity heard the role in detail and loved it.

Shooting starts September. Preity bagged the role as the filmmakers were eyeing for an intense performer, someone who could really act. The male lead for Raja Ravi Varma's character is Madhavan. Ajay Devgan was the first choice for this role.

There was a certain nude scene in the script originally, about which Madhuri had some apprehensions, as the painter has painted his muse nude. Now those secenes have been cut out from the script.

The scenes in question will now be shown subtly and symbolically. The film will be shot in Mumbai and Hyderabad. Most of the film does not need outdoor locales. The few scenes which require outdoor shoots will be shot in Girgaum and Walkeshwar in Mumbai.

Karun, has won the National award six times, and the film is expected to be completed by February. Karun is the only Indian director who has as many as three films to his credit — Piravi, Swaham, Vanaprastham — in Cannes. This just might be his fourth!!!!!!!!.