Akshay Kumar has been roped in to reprise Mithun Chakraborty’s role from the original in the remake of Basu Chatterjee’s comedy, Shaukeen (1982). The remake will be directed by Rumi Jaffrey. Annu Kapoor, Paresh Rawal and Anupam Kher have been cast as the three lecherous old men. Interestingly, this will be the first time that Akshay will be seen romancing Nargis Fakhri. The Rockstar (2012) actor will play the part earlier essayed by Rati Agnihotri in the yesteryear hit.

Akshay to play mithun’s role Kumar will share screen space with Nargis Fakhri in the remake of a 1982 film starring Chakraborty and Rati Agnihotri in the lead. Over three decades ago, the trio – Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and AK Hangal – lusted over a much-younger Rati Agnihotri in Basu Chatterjee’s hit comedy, Shaukeen (1982). Now, thirty one years later, writer-director Rumi Jaffrey will be remaking the film with veteran actors Annu Kapoor, Paresh Rawal and Anupam Kher.

In the original film, Mithun Chakraborty also played an eminent role — that of Rati’s boyfriend —and the remake will see Akshay Kumar essaying the same part. And what’s more,  the Rockstar (2011) girl, Nargis Fakhri, will play Rati’s role. With this film, Akshay is finally working with Nargis, after she apparently missed out on Khiladi 786 in 2012. At that time, rumours were also rife about him signing Nargis for a three-film-deal for his production house, Hari Om Productions. “More than anything else, Akshay has given his nod for the remake because he is happy with the way his character has been etched out by Rumi. He will shoot for the film mid-2013,” says an industry insider, adding, “The makers were also very keen to cast a completely new pair in the film. So Nargis fit the bill.”

Although it’s a remake of Chatterjee’s comedy, Rumi is believed to have rewritten it to suit today’s times. In fact, the film’s will now be based in Thailand instead of Goa. “So you will see three old men trying to woo Nargis on beautiful Thai beaches. The film won’t remind you of the old Shaukeen in terms of setting and treatment,” adds the insider. For the uninitiated, Rishi Kapoor was supposed to play one of the three lecherous men in the Shaukeen remake. But his dates could not be worked out. So instead, Anupam Kher has stepped into the role.