by Subhash K Jha

Ajay Devgan has almost become Raj Kumar Santoshi's resident hero.

After the versatile and vibrant filmmaker completes the political drama Saamna with Ajay in the lead, in the middle of next year he goes into the grand musical London Dreams.

It's unlike any film Santoshi has ever made. Moving away from the gut-wrenching action of his trademark films (Ghayal....Lajja....) London Dreams moves to London to delineate the life and times and music of Asian underground music.

London Dreams is the story of the rise and fall of an Indi-Rock band. A. R. Rahman has already been roped in to do the global sounds of this unorthodox Bollywood musical.

But the real surprise in the project would be the return of Salman Khan to Santoshi's cinema. Some years ago the two had teaned up for an uproarious comedy Andaz Apna Apna. Now, Salman who's currently on signing spree(he has lately said yes to Nikhil Advani, Samir Karnik, among others ) will return to Santoshi's cinema with the director's favourite leading man Ajay Devgan in the cast.

London Dreams could possibly be Santoshi's most expensive film to date. It would try to replicate in terms of the Indo-British musical experience, the flamboyance of Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge.

Says the director, "London Dreams will come in the middle of the year. So I wouldn't like to say much about it right now. But yes, Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan have been signed for it. And Rahman will do the music."