Ranbir joins the double role club

The double role fever seems to be spreading faster than the swine flu. It started last year with Deepika Padukone's Chandni Chowk To China. Akshay Kumar featured in a Cola ad in a twin avatar. Shahid Kapoor will be seen playing two different characters in the upcoming Kaminey and now Ranbir Kapoor is jumping on the bandwagon by starring in Vikramjit Singh's Mera Jahaan in a double role.

Deepika Padukone has been finalised to play the lead actress opposite Ranbir in the film, which is being produced under Sameer Rattonsey's banner Cinema Paradiso. Sameer admits, "Ranbir plays a double role and it's interesting because he has various looks in the film — from a young guy to an old man, so there's a full range of acting for him to go through. It's not typical masala fare. We want to make films we like and would be proud to be associated with."

Director Vikramjit Singh, who has written the story and screenplay, elaborates on Ranbir's role. "Ranbir plays two different characters from two different time periods — one character is based in the 1950s in India and abroad while the other is from 2009 and is based in India. The story is that of a comic book writer who is lost in his world and his own perceptions of the world. That's why it's called Mera Jahaan or My World."

This was the same film they'd approached Sonam Kapoor for the role opposite Ranbir's. But now, only Deepika features in the film. The director reveals, "We had approached Sonam a long time ago and even before the script narration she told us that she was not interested in a two-heroine film."Vikramjit was earlier supposed to direct Raaste produced by Popcorn and starring Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Aishwarya Bachchan and Sikander Kher. Vikramjit says, "Raaste is not happening as there were certain issues we couldn't resolve. I wrote a completely different script went to Ranbir, he liked the script and said yes."