Barring an odd 'Khakee' where Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai were not conventionally paired opposite each other, the two actors have never shared screen space together.

In fact it is surprising that none of the existing film makers ever thought of bringing the two together. This is the reason why it is reason to celebrate with Vipul Shah making it possible with 'Action Replayy'.

Since off screen, Akshay is known for being pretty rooted and grounded while Ash is a classic beauty with a Diva image to boast, was it really convincing for Vipul since he had to handle complete opposites on the sets?

"See that's the entire point", says Vipul who has earlier worked with Akshay in 'Aankhen', 'Waqt', 'Namastey London' and 'Singh Is Kinng', "The words that you have used to describe Ash - classic beauty - are absolutely right. For 'Action Replayy', I indeed wanted someone who boasted of classic beauty."

No wonder, Vipul's reference point was Hema Malini, who has lived on to be a dream girl for decades.

"Since the film is set in the 70s, if I had to think of someone who was a classical beauty in the era gone by, it had to be Hema Malini", reasons Vipul, "She was yesterday's dream girl, Ash is today's. Both have an Indian face and can look Western when required. It is so fantastic that I got what I needed."

Now all one hopes is that audience too get what they want. After all one expects some real conventional romance between Akshay and Ash this time around, especially due to the fact that in 'Khakee', it turned out to be an anti climax after all.

Laughs Vipul, "Don't worry on that aspect. In fact within our team, we have always maintained that Akshay is today's Dharmendra. Now when Ash is being seen opposite him, we all believe that it is back to seeing a Dharam-Hema pairing. Nothing can beat that."

Well, one looks forward to audience sharing a similar sentiment as well once the film hits the screens on 5th November.