Since Sunday, industry insiders have been talking about Karan Johar and Akshay Kumar joining hands for a film titled Warrior starring Akshay and KJo's discovery Sidharth Malhotra, which will be directed by Agneepath director Karan Malhotra.

The Mirror reports that KJo and Akshay are indeed venturing into a co-production, but it will be helmed by Dharma's other Malhotra, Punit Malhotra (I Hate Luv Stories, Gori Tere Pyar Mein). And it is a remake of a South film. Says a source close to the film, "The script of the first half is ready and will be given to Akshay for a read next week. Then, KJo, Akshay and Punit will have another meeting to flesh out the second half."

The masala movie will take off by the year end and Punit is set to scout for locales from August. Meanwhile, the rumour that the Agneepath director will direct Akshay has lead to tongues wagging about a probable casting in Shuddhi. The movie started with Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor before grapevine claimed that Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone were approached. Now, buzz is Salman Khan will topline the cast. When asked, KJo sent us a text saying, "Shuddhi has not been cast".