Anil Kapoor begins casting for Indian 24

The actor Anil Kapoor and the director Abhinay Deo are collaborating on the Indian version of the American television series 24 . They are on the look out for 30 cast members for the project, says Deo. The espionage thriller series is scheduled to begin shooting in February. Kapoor will play the character of Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland in the original. Kapoor featured in the US show's eighth season as Omar Hassan, the president of a fictional Middle Eastern country. – IANS The actress Ameesha Patel has backed out of the filmmaker Anil Sharma's new movie Singh Saheb the Great because of the production's erratic shooting schedules. "Unfortunately, I can't be a part of the film anymore," Patel posted on Twitter. "I have had to back out of Singh Saheb the Great because of the ever-changing schedules. My best wishes to Anil Sharma." Patel was to star opposite the action hero Sunny Deol in the film, which would reunite the pair with the director after their 2001 hit Gadar: Ek Prem Katha . – IANS Salman Khan admitted that after the critical and commercial failure of his 2010 film Veer, a romantic period drama in which he starred opposite Zarine Khan, he now demands approval of the final cuts for all his movies. "I hope the directors don't think I'm taking advantage of my stardom. I feel guilty but I don't want to put my foot down just because it's the polite thing to do," Khan told reporters. "It's me on the film posters, so the audience will hold me responsible for everything. I always make it clear right at the beginning that the final cut will only go with my approval." – IANS Sunny Leone is proud to be the most searched personality online in India for 2012. The Indian-Canadian actress received the news courtesy of Google's annual Zeitgeist list. "I consider myself lucky. I am only one film old in Bollywood and despite that I have achieved so much," says Leone, whose next film is Ekta Kapoor's Ragini MMS 2 . The second most-searched Indian personality is the veteran actor Rajesh Khanna, who died in July after a prolonged illness. – IANS

Anil Kapoor begins casting for Indian 24

Plus: Ameesha Patel resigns from Singh Saheb the Great; Salman Khan approves the final cuts of all his films; Sunny Leone is India's most searched on the web.