Jisshu Sengupta to romance Deepika on screen

Shoojit Sircar's next film "Piku", which already has a formidable cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone, just got more interesting. It now stars Bengali star Jisshu Sengupta in the romantic lead opposite Deepika.

Jisshu, who made his Bollywood debut opposite Ileana D'Cruz in a guest appearance in Anurag Basu's "Barfi!" would next be seen in Pradeep Sarkar's Hindi film "Mardaani", in which he plays husband to Rani Mukerji's character.

Sircar is said to have been keen to cast Jisshu opposite Deepika as the role suited him to perfection. However, the fact that Jisshu was being launched as a leading man by Yash Raj Films (YRF) put a question mark on Jisshu's presence in "Piku".

Jisshu showed Shoojit his Bengali film "Jaatishwar". Only then was Sircar convinced.

The excited actor said: "It's a big break with a director I really admire and with actors I really love. It has been my dream to work with Mr. Bachchan from the time I decided I wanted to be an actor."

"Irrfan-ji is another actor I truly admire. As for Deepika, isn't she everyone's favourite dream girl these days?"

"Piku" would take Jisshu to Mumbai in August.