According to reports, Ekta Kapoor has finally found her heroine for the sequel of her runaway hit, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. After Kareena Kapoor reportedly opted out of the film, it is learnt that Kangana Ranaut has been finalised to play the lead opposite Akshay Kumar. Interestingly, she played the actress-girlfriend of Ajay Devgn in the first outing also. Taking off after the end of Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, with Shoaib Khan (played by Emraan Hashmi), director Milan Luthria's sequel starts with the rise of the newer don, reportedly based on Dawood Ibrahim, which is now being played by Akshay Kumar.

It is believed that Kangana's character is inspired from Mandakini, who got involved with the Dubai based don after her career in Bollywood that started on a high with Raj Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili stagnated. A source informed that producer Ekta and director Milan Luthria were looking for a suitable replacement after Kareena opted out of the sequel earlier this month.

"A couple of names were considered, but somewhere they felt that a performing actress was more needed than a starry name. Initially they weren't considering Kangana as she has already played an actress, Rehana in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai. And this character was said to be based on one Sona, who Haji Mastan (the inspiration for Ajay Devgn's character Sultan Mirza) fell in love with and even made a movie with later," explains our source.

When contacted, Tanuj Garg, CEO of Ekta's production house said, "We're still in the process of locking the final script. After that, our priority is to finalise the second actor after Akshay. And only then will we figure out the casting for the girls. Guess the talk of Kangana doing the Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai sequel is due to the fact that she's also playing the leading lady opposite John in Shootout At Wadala, which is also our production."

However, standing by the story, the source said, "The paperwork is still pending. So perhaps that's why Ekta's production house is not confirming Kangana's presence in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai sequel to the media yet. Besides, Akshay-Kangna is a novel combination, as the two haven't been featured together yet. And a new pairing also helps built up the curiosity factor of a film to a considerable extent in its marketing and promotion."