If the rumors in the industry circles are to be believed, despite here resounding success during 2007, especially ‘Jab We Met', and hiked performance price, Kareena Kapoor has been dropped from director Imtiaz Ali's next film.

Rejecting Kareena for a role in his film, Imtiyaz Ali has chosen the currently hot Bollywood glamour girl Deepika Padukone for the film.

Worse still, in a recent interview, director Imtiyz Ali has told a magazine that he had taken Kareena Kapoor for ‘Jab We Met' even without liking the actress' acting qualities and he stressed that Kareena is not a good actress at all.

Incidentally, Imtiaz Ali, who was the director of ‘Jab We Met', has even ignored the recommendations of Saif Ali Khan the hero of his next untitled film, and rejected his girlfriend Kareena Kapoor to opt for Deepika Padukone.

More interestingly, Saif Ali Khan is not only the hero of the film, but it is going to be Saif's first film production!

Sources said that Saif Ali Khan had recommended Kareena Kapoor for their new film, but the director rejected Saif's pleas.

Going by the standards in Bollywood, this is something significant as normally the directors seldom have the guts to ignore the requests of the hero and more so when he is also the producer of the movie.

But many here would want to know if the director would have the same guts to reject a request either by Shah Rukh Khan or Aameer Khan!