Sujoy Ghosh and Umesh Shukla in hot pursuit of Big B's dates

Umesh Shukla, Amitabh Bachchan and Sujoy Ghosh

Signing a superstar and acquiring his/her dates to complete the film on time in no mean feat for a filmmaker. And it looks like Sujoy Ghosh and Umesh Shukla are competing with each other for Amitabh Bachchan's dates to be able to take their respective films on floors before this year ends.

Umesh Shukla, Amitabh Bachchan and Sujoy Ghosh

The two directors have completed their own scripts and apparently, the veteran star has agreed to be a part of both the projects. Says a source, "Sujoy is producing a thriller titled Kerala with Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. He plans to start rolling in October. Umesh has similar plans for 102 Not Out and is also pursuing the star. Only time will reveal who is Bachchan's priority."

Nawazuddin is expected to start shooting for Anurag Kashyap's untitled next in September and then join Sujoy's film. Asked if he has been able to secure Big B's dates, Sujoy says "not yet".

On the other hand, Umesh, whose latest venture with Abhishek Bachchan failed at the box-office, says: "My next is with Bachchan sir and Paresh Rawalji. It's an interesting concept. The script is complete and I will meet Bachchan sir in the next four or five days. I plan to go on floors this year."