Jackie Shroff
Jackie ShroffReuters

Veteran actor Jackie Shroff will be seen playing a grey character in Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Happy New Year".

According to reports, Farah Khan who will direct and produce "Happy New Year" has roped in Shroff for the role of a villain in the film, which will also star Abhishek Bachchan , Boman Irani and Naseerudin Shah's son Vivaan Shah.

The plot of "Happy New Year" surrounds around four friends, a villain and a female character for which Farah had zeroed in on Deepika Padukone. The 27-year-old actress will be play a bar dancer in the film.

Deepika was finalised for the female lead in "Happy New Year" after a number of Bollywood actresses and television artists, including Ankita Lokhande, Jennifer Winget and Simran Kaur Mundi were considered for the role. Shah Rukh's "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" co-star Katrina Kaif was also offered the role, but due to her tight schedule she backed out of the project following which Deepika was roped in.

The shooting of "Happy New Year" will commence in September. The first schedule of the film will be reportedly shot in Dubai.

"Happy New Year" will reunite Shah Rukh and Farah after a gap of six years and will see Shah Rukh and Deepika's for the third time together on the big screen. They were last seen together in Rohit Shetty directorial action comedy "Chennai Express" which hit screens on 9 August. The film has created a record by becoming the first Bollywood film to have crossed the 100 crore mark in the fourth day of its release.