Darsheel's friend gets his share of the cake

The demand for Darsheel Safary to do films grows by the Friday. Fortunately or unfortunately, Darsheel is being very picky. So now, directors who wanted Darsheel have now started looking at other potential actors, some of them from Taare Zameen Par. Tanay Cheda who played Darsheel's best friend in Taare Zameen Par (the boy Rajan on the crutches) is from Raell Padamsee's theatre group. He plays the younger lead with Ruslaan Mumtaz in the new comedy Mastang Mama directed by ad-maker Vikram Singh.

The team was keen on Darsheel. "But he seems out of bounds. So we thought why not the guy who played Darsheel's class mate and buddy? We feel Tanay is as good as Darsheel," says Ruslaan who intends to bond big-time with his young co-star before shooting begins on April 30. "And I've all the time in the world to bond with Tanay, since a ripped ligament in my leg has me stationary for a month", says Ruslaan. "Ironically, Tanay was on crutches in Taare Zameen Par while I'm on crutches right now. Even more ironically, we're supposed to do a lot of running together in Mastang Mama," laughs Ruslaan.

Darsheel in the meanwhile makes his first television appearance this week on 9 X's Chak De Bachche, his first appearance post -TZP. The producers of the programme say, "Darsheel hasn't changed at all. But yes, there's a change around him. One hopes he doesn't lose his innocence."