The real reason why Abhishek Bachchan has opted out of Ram Gopal Varma's "Sholay" is not moral but practical. The busy Bollywood star just couldn't give dates.

Those dates were committed to the inimitable Mani Ratnam. Yes, Abhishek Bachchan will be coming together with his "Yuva" director again for Ratnam's first film in the English language to be shot in London.

Both Abhishek and of course the ever-secretive Ratnam are tight-lipped about the project. Says Abhishek, "I can't say anything about this right now."

But a source close to the actor confirms, "The Abhishek-Mani Ratnam project is definitely on. It's a film that requires Abhishek to age from 16 to 60. Since he truly enjoyed working with Mani in 'Yuva' he was very keen to do so again.

"The only problem was the dates were clashing with Ram Gopal Varma's 'Sholay'. And since Abhishek is already doing two more films with Varma - 'Ek' and 'Sarkar 2' - both with his dad Amitabh Bachchan, he opted for Mani's film over Ramu's 'Sholay'."

Amitabh Bachchan is being cast as Gabbar Singh in the new-age 'gangsterised' version of Ramesh Sippy's classic "Sholay". Abhishek was to play Veeru - but now that is not happening.