Pran had immortalised the role of the crook with a golden heart, Sher Khan in Prakash Mehra's 1973 blockbuster Zanjeer. And though initially, Sanjay Dutt was reportedly set to reprise the role in its remake, it was Arjun Rampal who bagged it. And now, back from a miraculous physical makeover, Dutt is back in his pal Apoorva Lakhia's film.

We found out that on Saturday afternoon, Arjun opted out of the project. "Yes unfortunately I am opting out of Zanjeer. The dates were clashing with Nikhil Advani's film. It was getting too cut-to-cut for me. The only window I had this year for Zanjeer was in July. But that got pushed ahead. Now it would be unfair of me to ask them to wait until next year for my dates. Sher Khan is an iconic character. Any actor would be happy to play him," the actor told us. Needless to say, the role went back to Dutt - the first choice for Sher Khan.

According to a source close to the project, the neo Sher Khan will be a lot different from the character reprised by Pran in 1973. "This Zanjeer needs two well-built guys. The confrontation between Vijay and Sher Khan in the original Zanjeer was aggressive and violent but the brawn quotient was missing. Pran saab was obviously not expected to fight bare-backed and Bachchan saab never took off his shirt.

This time Ramcharan Teja and his on-screen Sher Khan slug it out bare-torsoed. That's why Arjun Rampal with his lithe build was selected. Sanjay Dutt has lost so much weight now. He can very comfortably carry off the hand-to-hand shirtless combat with Ramcharan. It would be the highpoint of the film," revealed the source. Apparently, Arjun had even worked out his own 'Sher Khan' look for the film. However, due to date issues, the actor and the makers mutually decided that he opts out of the project.