After Rekha's abrupt exist from Abhishek Kapoor's "Fitoor", Tabu came onboard immediately and the director says he is fortunate that the "Haider" star believed in him completely.
Tabu was roped in to play the role of Begum in the film, based on Charles Dickens' celebrated love story "Great Expectations", at the last minute.
"Fortunately, Tabu was available at that time and she came onboard. She read the script and liked it immediately. We have known each other for many years.
"Someone else would have taken a lot of time to prepare for the role. I have to give it up to Tabu for coming onboard and trusting us so easily and stepping into the film," Abhishek told PTI.
The upcoming film will see portraying a character inspired by eccentric Miss Havisham while film's other actors Katrina Kaif is playing Firdaus, which is modelled on beautiful but cold Estella. Aditya Roy Kapur's Noor is based on Pip, an orphan.
The setting of Kashmir and Tabu's avatar of a complex mother may have reminded people of Vishal Bhardwaj's insurgency drama "Haider" but Abhishek says his film has nothing common with the Shahid Kapoor starrer.
"I don't think there is anything similar in 'Fitoor' apart from Tabu and Kashmir. Both films are very different. 'Fitoor' is a love story. 'Haider' was a political film. It's just people's imagination."
The "Rock On" director, who is returning behind the camera after a gap of three years, termed Rekha's exit "unfortunate" and said he hopes to team up with the veteran actress in future again.
"It was very unfortunate that we had to part ways. It was a mutual decision. We were working on it very enthusiastically and we came to a point where we were shooting and we realised that we were not seeing things in the same way. We felt that this is not the film we should work on. May be there is something else that will come."
Also starring Aditi Rao Hydari and Rahul Bhat, "Fitoor" hits theatres on February 12.
