It was one casting coup waiting to happen but that hasn't been the case
to be. For the 'Vote Aapke Haath Mein Hai' campaign produced by Karan
Johar for Dharma Productions, John Abraham, Bipasha Basu and Katrina
Kaif were the chosen ones (amongst a dozen odd other youth icons) to
participate in a specially created video. However, at the last moment,
the trio couldn't be a part of the video for different reasons and
director Tarun Mansukhani had to contend with other actors.

"That's
true. Earlier on John Abraham and Bipasha Basu were all set to be a
part of this video that has been created to spread awareness around
voting for our Government this election season. Even Katrina Kaif was
finalised but in the final scheme of things, we had to shoot the video
without the three of them. Such a pity", exclaims Tarun Mansukhani who
has made a drastic shift from a colourful 'Dostana' to his recent
campaign that has been shot in all Black & White.

The video
now stars Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan,
Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Asin, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Farhan
Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor and Karan Johar himself.

So what really
went wrong? What was the real reason behind John, Bipasha and Katrina
opting out of 'Vote Aapke Haath Mein Hai' which is written by Niranjan
Iyengar, the man who has written dialogues Karan Johar films like 'Kal
Ho Naa Ho' and 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna'?

"If you are searching
for any controversies then there aren't any. In fact it wasn't even the
matter of anyone opting out", Tarun is quick to react, "All three were
quite sweet and were game to shoot for the video. But then on the day
of the shoot, John and Katrina were not in the town due to which we had
to go ahead without them."

How about Bipasha?

"Well, her
'Aa Dekhen Zara' was being released on the same day when we had to
shoot for the video. Other than that, she was also a little hassled due
to the multiplex issue. 'Aa Dekhen Zara' was engulfed in this situation
where no one was sure if it would eventually see an all India multiplex
release or not. It was all right if Bipasha couldn't shoot for the
video in such a scenario."

Though there have been accusations
that his video, which carries the punch line of `Kuch Nahi Ho Sakta',
is an out-and-out copy of Hollywood's `Don't Vote' commercial featuring
Leonardo DiCaprio, Forest Whitaker, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen DeGeneres,
Jennifer Aniston, Ashton Kutcher and will. i. am amongst others, Tarun
is completely unperturbed.

"I haven't even seen the 'Don't Vote'
campaign and I don't want to worry about that. The point at the end of
the day is that the video has been liked and more than that the message
is being rightly passed on to the youth. All celebrities coming
together for this cause has helped create a great awareness around our
right to vote and that's what that matters at the end of the day",
declares Tarun. -Sampurn Media