By Subhash K Jha

The vast cast of Abbas-Mustan's couldn't have hoped for a better gift...A monsoon holiday, thanks to producers Abbas-Mustan who have not been able to select from music composer Pritam Chakraborty's tunes.

The two songs were supposed to be shot with the entire cast Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Sonam Kapoor over the next two weeks.

The loss of time is crucial because getting the combined dates of the 4 busy artistes again would be problematic.

Abbas-Mustan were very keen to complete the two songs on time. These songs were crucial because all the action sequences and the ‘talkie' portions are done only the songs remain.

Says a source, "During the past year or so Pritam has been insisting he can't cope with the workload. He has either dropped out voluntarily or has requested producers to employ other composers' services but has not been given that freedom.

Players is one of those projects that he has taken on because he couldn't say no to Abbas-Mustan. Not that he has failed to meet his deadline. There's no one to be blamed for this delay. "

While Abhishek Bachchan is using the suddenly-vacated time-space to be with his expectant wife, Bipasha Basu took for a family holiday in Kolkata,

Says the sultry Basu, "Yes, two songs have been delayed. The schedule of Players was postponed. These are normal delays in any movie project. "

Pritam's spokesperson adds, "Pritam has given the director Abbas-Mustan songs to choose from His job is done. It's the makers who have not been able to select the songs to be filmed. After all the Abbas- Mustan/Pritam team are conscious that they've to equal what they did on Race. "