After three years, the sequel to Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai returns, bigger and with a new star cast. The sequel, Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai Dobaara! stars Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Imran Khan and Sonali Bendre, with Akshay reprising the role of Emraan Hashmi (who played Shoaib), in a mature avatar for this film.

OUATIM Dobaara! takes off from where the first film ended. Akshay Kumar takes over Emraan Hashmi's role (as Shoaib) who rules Mumbai after killing his mentor Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgn). A womanizer, Shoaib extends his empire to the Middle East and even the West.

Shoaib's old time love Mumtaz (Sonali Bendre) is always by his side. He then befriends Aslam (Imran Khan) from the slums and the two seem to share a great rapport. Meanwhile, Shoaib has his fair share of enemies who are trying to bring him down. Along the way, he and Aslam encounter a starlet (Sonakshi Sinha) and both fall in love with her. That's when the tables turn. Shoaib and Aslam become enemies and the fight between the two begins, with Shoaib's enemies posing as a double threat to him.

While most of the unit remains the same, (producer, director, writer and music composer) for OUATIM Dobaara!, will it prove to be as lucky as the original and will it be a bigger hit?

While OUATIM had great music with songs like Pee Loon and Tum Jo Aaye that topped the charts, OUATIM Dobaara! seems to have a lukewarm response to its music.

Once again there is a unique star cast for the sequel, just like the original which had Emraan Hashmi, Ajay Devgn and Kangana Ranaut. But this is something director Milan Luthria is used to. "Odd ball casting works for me in all my films, be it OUATIM, OUATIM Dobaara!, Taxi No. 9211, The Dirty Picture or Kachche Dhaage. A lot of questions were asked when I cast Emraan in OUATIM. Everyone said he was non conventional. I was told I had done the worst casting for Silk, who was a dancing superstar. But I wanted to give our film a unique look and it brings different audiences to theatres," says Milan.

While leading lady Sonakshi Sinha has delivered back to back hits, Akshay Kumar is not far behind. The Khiladi of Bollywood has been a mass entertainer and a favourtie with audiences. Viewers are also warming up to this unique star cast with Sonakshi Sinha being paired opposite both Akshay and Imran Khan. This could work in the favour of the film.

Director Milan Luthria comments on this star cast. "We needed an older Shoaib who was 15 years mature since this is a mentor protege franchise. We wanted to the protege from the earlier film to play a mentor in the sequel and that's why we chose Akshay. He was in talks with Ekta to do a film and he also wanted to work with me so why not? Akshay's into comedy and action of late so it was interesting to cast against his type, in an evil role. It will be a good change for his fans and as a director, I would have something different o play with. For Aslam's character, I wanted an earnest, righteous looking actor to play the role and that's how I cast Imran Khan. Sonakshi's a phenomenal actress and I've seen all her work. We wanted an Indian looking girl who is naive and comes from the North to make it into Bollywood. She had to look good against Akshay and Imran so I could not cast an older looking actress. I had to also ensure that Akshay did not look like a cradle snatcher and Imran did not look like a baby against Sonakshi. The actress had to fit well against both the male characters."

This time, the entire team is going all out to promote the film across every medium. But is too much visibility killing curiosity?

OUATIM Dobaara! has also been in the news as it was supposed to release on the same date as Chennai Express which released on Eid. But both Ekta and Milan pushed it by a week, thus cashing in on Independence Day. Milan also sorted the issue with Shahrukh Khan.

But with Chennai Express breaking all records on the day of its opening and still continuing to go strong, will it affect the box office opening of OUATIM Dobaara? Especially since Chennai Express will complete a week on 15th August (the same day that OUATIM Dobaara! releases).