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As Imtiaz Ali gets ready to kick off his next film Rockstar, the curiosity over Ranbir Kapoor’s leading lady in the project gets bigger. Now, model Nargis Fakhri is making news for having bagged the role.

Till a few days ago, reports suggested Imtiaz had finalised model Diana Penty (25) as his lead actress. And before Diana, the buzz went that Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi beauty Anushka Sharma was almost finalised.

But soon, tabloids said since Imtiaz was looking for a new girl to play the lead in Rockstar , he overlooked Anushka to eventually zero in on Diana. Immediately, unconfirmed reports were picked up by TV channels and newspapers.

Neither Imtiaz nor the production company, Shri Ashtavinayak Cine Vision, is ready to confirm the girl’s name though. “ Imtiaz doesn’t want to talk about it. He wants to focus on his film,” a spokesperson from Ashtavinayak said.

Despite repeated calls and messages, Imtiaz remained unavailable for comments.

Interestingly, Rockstar has become a nice PR vehicle for the girls in question. Reports suggest that Anushka has been keen to bag the part while the deal with Diana, inform sources, “ couldn’t go through”. And now, Nargis is in the news for bagging the plum project. A half- Pakistani, half- Czech girl, she created a splash with her avatar in the Kingfisher swimsuit calendar. The 21- year- old beauty from New York is a big fan of Bollywood films.

Although Diana and Nargis share a common background — modelling, they have hardly worked with each other. While Nargis has been working mainly in the US, Diana is a known face in the Indian ad world. Diana also had a stint at the prestigious New York Fashion Week.

A few days ago, Imtiaz told M AIL T ODAY he would rather start shooting the film than talking about an actress with the media.

“ I don’t want to come across as a director who talks to the press about his cast and crew,” he said.

Imtiaz further said he might start shooting his film without divulging the name of the girl.

“ Like other filmmakers, I won’t be interested in talking openly about my actress. I might talk about her after my film starts,” he said.

Ashtavinayak’s spokesperson also said Imtiaz might start shooting the film without revealing the girl’s name. But he added the company is likely to make an official announcement about the lead actress very soon.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Nargis will play a dancer in Rockstar . The filmmaker chose her because he felt Nargis’ Anglo- Indian look suited the character.

But she underwent many screen tests before getting the role.

Nargis has said she knows India mainly through Bollywood films.