Kajol rejected Vikram Phadnis' adaptation of Stepmom but said yes to KJo's

In the end, Kajol picked Karan Johar (as opposed to working with a newbie) yet again. The actress, who was approached first by designer Vikram Phadnis to star in an adaptation of Susan Sarandon-Julia Roberts starrer Stepmom, turned him down at the time citing date problems. As is now confirmed, Karan Johar will produce a remake of the film with Kajol and Kareena in the lead roles.

A source reveals, "Vikram has been working on his script for a very long time. In fact, it has been ready for over a year and he's busy trying to get the right actors on board. His dream team included Madhuri Dixit and Kads . He even approached them. But now, with Kajol saying yes to KJo, Phadnis has backed off."
The source adds that the designer was shocked when he read that Kajol agreed to be a part of Karan's remake while declining to be a part of his. "It is obvious that Kajol said yes to Karan because of her friendship with him. She treats him like family, so agreeing to do the film came quite naturally."

Vikram confirms he was working on an adaptation of the film, "I had the script ready but it wasn't a remake. It was more of an adaptation on the lines of the original film. However, since Karan has the rights to the film, I have given up the project. He's a dear friend and it doesn't make sense for me to pursue the same story."
Phadnis adds that the Stepmom adaptation took up a major chunk of his time. "The last 10 months of my life were taken up by this film. Now I plan to get back to taking on more films. Besides Dulha Mil Gaya, I am also working on Rohit Shetty's All The Best."

However, he doesn't plan to give up his filmi ambitions as yet. "I definitely want to get into filmmaking. Since Stepmom didn't work out, I have another script with me that was to be my second film. It is getting doctored and worked upon. The film will have a very glossy and elaborate feel to it."

Lastly, when asked if he feels any remorse on losing out on Stepmom he adds, "Well, if I made the film it would be silly. Since Karan has the actual rights and is going ahead with his project, I wish him the very best and will now work on my second script."