The Deol family's ambitious "Socha Na Tha" starring Dharmendra's nephew Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia in a triangle love story is ready for release.

Directed by Imtiaz Ali, who has earlier done TV serials like "Imtihaan" and "Rishtey", the movie by the Deol family's Vijay Films is about Viren, Aditi and Karen. Everyone wants Viren to marry Aditi but he tells her that he has been seeing a Catholic girl Karen for three years.

He wants to marry Karen and has not told anyone about it. Aditi and Viren decide to refuse the marriage causing a furore in their families. Viren proposes to Karen. She agrees and so do her parents but his parents refuse to let their son marry a Catholic.

Viren continues meeting Aditi in the confusion that follows and an easy relationship develops between the two. Then, in a dramatic turnaround, Viren's family agrees to accept Karen as their daughter-in-law. But Viren is now confused...

Director Imtiaz admits the story is not entirely new, but says the treatment is original. He says he got very positive feedback after the trial show and describes it as a "complete entertainer".

Besides being a major launch pad for Abhay Deol, the film is a big deal for Ayesha Takia, first seen in Phalguni Phatak's music video "Meri Chunar" and "Nahi Nahi". The film also stars Delhi-based model Apoorva Jha, a Delhi based popular model. Music is by Sandesh Shandilya.

The ambitious project was actually supposed to be produced by the Tolani brothers but was eventually taken up by Dharmendra. In fact, Imtiaz says he was not aware Abhay belonged to the Deol family when he first met him.

"He did not want to use his family name to get work and he kept this secret for a very long time," tells Imtiaz Ali.

"We cast Ayesha before she was in any music video or movie. She was short-listed from 100 girls and we knew she would make it big in Bollywood. Though we had planned to launch her first movie, it got delayed."

Dharmendra says Abhay has a great future in movies. "Things will work for him if he starts working with big names and big banners. Otherwise it is difficult to make a mark here," the superstar says of his nephew.

Apart from being Dharmendra's nephew, Abhay has some other pluses as well. He has a diploma in acting from a US university.

"Ayesha and I went through several workshops before we started shooting. It helped in a big way in boosting our confidence. Plus my family was always on my side when I needed them," Abhay says.