Deepika Padukone opts out of Race 2

This Race seems far from being won. After shooting for four days, Deepika Padukone has opted out of Race 2.

Her exit could not have been worse-timed, as it means more delays and hiccups for the Ramesh Taurani production. This is the second high profile exit after Sonakshi Sinha walked out of the mega-cast project and was replaced by Jaqueline Fernandes.

A shocked Taurani now has the onerous task of finding a replacement, someone who can step into Deepika's high heels opposite Saif Ali Khan.

A source close to the actress confirmed the developments and explained that her walkout had a lot to do with the film's ever-changing schedule. "Deepika had issues with the dates. Moreover she was irritated by the constant change in the shooting schedule of the film."

It should be noted here that the makers of Race 2 starring Saif, John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Amisha Patel and Jacqueline has had the Herculean task of juggling all the star dates. To top it all, Sanjay Dutt has just been added to the cast, adding to the list of busy actors. "In a bid to accommodate all their dates, Deepika had to sacrifice her own. And Tips expected a commitment of 60 dates from her this year. Given that she had already committed dates to Ayan Mukherji, she was in no mood to rework her schedule again," said the source, adding, "She didn't want to be a part of the film anymore and walked out of the film."

Mirror has learnt that Taurani tried his best to cajole the actress into continuing with the film. Her co-star from Love Aaj Kal and Cocktail, Saif, too tried his best to convince her to stay on. But to no avail. According to unconfirmed reports, she was also not happy sharing screenspace with Jaqueline Fernandes. But then that is another story.

Despite repeated calls and text messages, both Deepika and Ramesh Taurani remained unavailable for comments.

Wonder if Taurani has bitten off more than he could chew this time?