Deepika Padukone is eager for a repeat act with her Love Aaj Kal co-star. Keenly contests for all starring roles opposite the actor

Deepika Padukone may have pipped other actresses (Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor to name a few) to be the female lead in Race 2 but the real reason behind her saying a yes to the project is Saif Ali Khan.

The actress is keen to work with her Love Aaj Kal co-star yet again. As soon as she was offered Abbas-Mustan's sequel, she gave her nod to the Tips Films project without any hesitation.

She wanted to beat other actresses under consideration in the race to sign on the dotted line.

Tu nahi to main bhi nahi

This was also the reason Dippy had agreed to feature in Vishal Bhardwaj's Dreams. But as soon as she learnt that Saif was re-thinking doing the Omkara director's film, she too decided to back out from the project.

Says a source, "Saif had reservations about certain aspects of the script; especially, the second half of the story.

He expressed his opinions but the writer-director was in no mood to heed to his requests. As a result, he walked out."

Buzz was also that the actor-turned-producer was keen that Vishal commit himself to direct a project for his banner.