The casting conundrum in Mira Nair's seemingly doomed adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake deepens.

First Rani Mukherjee, and now Abhishek Bachchan too has said no to Nair's proposed film.

Earlier, Abhishek had seriously considered the project, but had warned the director that the dates would be hard to work out.

With Abhishek opting out Nair is back to Square One. No hero! As for heroine, Konkona Sensharma has stepped into a role vacated by Rani Mukherjee who claims she finally said no because her dates clashed with Karan Johar's next directorial venture.

However, the truth is otherwise. Apparently, Mukherjee turned away because she was required to play Abhishek's mother in the film. With the two being cast as lovebirds in Shaad Ali's Bunty Aur Babli, Rani saw The Namesake as not quite the thing to do.

As for Abhishek, he was in two minds from the beginning. With the dates finally clinching the matter against Nair and her latest film Vanity Fair proving a vain affair, the director has very little option but to put the project on hold and move on to something else.