Director Prawal Raman has attributed Ram Gopal Varma's decision to shelve "Loot", the Riteish-Aftab-Ayesha Takia starrer, to his ex-assistant director Ramesh Khatkar's film "Rokda", which also has a similar subject.

"Rokda", starring Emraan Hashmi, Tanushree Dutta, Ashmit Patel, Riya Sen and Arshad Warsi among others, is being produced by Madhu Sharma. The film marks the directorial debut of Khatkar, who assisted Ramu in "Jungle", "Mast" and "Company".

Raman, who was to direct "Loot" for Ramu, said he decided to shelve the film after he learnt that Khatkar was making a film on a similar subject.

"When Ramu realised that Khatkar was indeed making a film with the same story, he decided that it would not be economically viable to produce it. The story of 'Loot' has been lying with Ramu for some time and I have no clue how Khatkar got the same," Raman was quoted as telling the media.

Khatkar denied that his story was similar to that of "Loot", maintaining that his film was strictly original and he had written the script.