Almost 30 years ago, Sanjeev Kumar tried to marry off his widowed daughter-in-law Jaya Bhaduri with the silent stranger Amitabh Bachchan in Ramesh Sippy's Sholay. The ‘forbidden' match never materalised.

Now in the soon-to-begin Babul, Amitabh Bachchan plays a father-in-law who goes all out to rehabilitate his widowed daughter-in-law played by Rani Mukerji.

In terms of script, Bachchan says, "Babul is even stronger than Baghban. It has a very strong social message."

The casting is a dream come true. Rani Mukerji steps into a role that was very persuasively offered to Kajol, who had apparently declined because she didn't find much scope for her character.

Re-uniting the Baghban pair of Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini and casting Salman Khan as the son who dies, the film now faces a casting hurdle.

Who's to play the guy whom Rani eventually re-marries? It has to be someone of stature, worthy of being recommended by father-in-law Bachchan as replacement in bahu Rani's life.

Abhishek Bachchan was considered, but that didn't work out. His date diary in 2005 is jampacked and besides, everyone in the team felt that the senior Bachchan shouldn't recommend the junior for his widowed daughter-in-law in the film.

Several other topnotch actors including Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar have been approached, but they've said no.

Obviously with such a stalwart cast the last male lead would feel threatened with a space problem. Now director Ravi Chopra has decided to approach Bobby Deol. If he doesn't agree, Babul will be stuck.