It is the most sensational casting of the year. For a long time now, plans to cast Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai together have gone kaput.

But if all goes well, the two will be seen together in a Yash Chopra production very shortly.

The master-brain behind the project? Aditya Chopra! The film? A sequel to 2004's surprise blockbuster Dhoom.

Reliable sources say Hrithik, who hasn't signed a single film after Lakshya except his home production, is set to sign on the dotted line for the sequel. For the first time, he will play a villain, albeit a very suave James Bond kind of bad-man.

While the rest of the cast — Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra and Rimi Sen — remains the same in the sequel, John Abraham has been excluded.

So how come there's no John in Dhoom 2? Apparently, the villain had to be a different face and character. With Hrithik agreeing to slip into the diabolic role, Dhoom 2 acquires an all-new dimension.

And if Aishwarya is cast opposite Hrithik, it will be a unique pair. Some years ago, Tanuja Chandra wanted to cast the two together in a war epic.