Farhan Akhtar and Sudhir Mishra won’t make Dhruv, the new version of Devdas, without Kareena Kapoor as the contemporary Paro.

There was some thought over shifting Mishra’s favourite Chitrangada into Kareena’s role, but the producer-director has decided that he will not make Dhruv until Kareena agrees to do the role.

“It works only with Kareena, no one else. I’m willing to go down on my knees to get her to do the film. But she can’t say no. It’s a role specially written for her,” says Mishra.

Apparently Kareena has reservations about the film because it’s a Farhan Akhtar production and named after his character in the film. “We call the film Dhruv, but her character Pooja is as important,” clarifies Sudhir Mishra. “Devdas is now Dhruv and Paro is Pooja. It’s now more like Shakespeare’s Hamlet than Devdas. I can’t imagine anyone but Kareena in the role.”