After his wonderfully skilled performance as a gay dean in Karan Johar's Student Of The Year Rishi Kapoor is all set to play Dawood. The super-versatile Rishi Kapoor stepping into Dawood's white shoes is indeed a cinematic coup. It apparently took director Nikhil Advani who has earlier worked with Rishi Kapoor in Patiala House a good six months to convince the temperamental Kapoor.

Rishi initially said no. Arshad Warsi was being considered for Dawood's role. But Advani had his heart set on Rishi Kapoor. And he finally got him.

After Saif Ali Khan in Agent Vinod and Salman Khan in Ek Tha Tiger it's Arjun Rampal who plays a RAW agent in D Day. Arjun is mighty kicked by the prospect of working with Rishi Kapoor. `I've never worked with him before, wanted to for a very long time. Finally I am getting the chance. Another actor in D Day I seriously wanted to work with is Irrfan Khan. I can't wait to get started. `

D Day takes off in September. But before that Arjun undergoes intensive physical training to get into character.

Says the committed actor, `Nikhil Advani has invited a whole slew of action directors from Hollywood to train the actors. They arrive tomorrow (Thursday). RAW agents posses a certain physique and their combat tactics are learnt mostly from the MOSSAD. It's a specialized kind of combat involving guns and hand-to-hand training. I am looking forward to getting into character. `

D day is about RAW agents, played by Arjun Rampal and Irrfan Khan who are assigned to bring Dawood back from Pakistan by road. Since permission to shoot in Pakistan is impossible Nikhil Advani would be shooting the Pakistani scenes in the Kutch district of Gujarat.