UTV's Hindi remake of the Tamil hit Vetaai goes through a period of turbulence. The tale of 2 brothers, one ramrod-straight upright and the opposite an uncontrollable rogue, had zeroed in on Madhavan and Shahid Kapoor to play the 2 brothers.

But now we hear Madhavan's serious knee problem has put the project back by a minimum of three months.

In step with a source, Madhavan is the primary and final choice for the elder brother's role.

"The producers were keen to get the Shah Rukh Khan-Shahid bhai jodi on board. But the director Lingusamy is raring on Madhavan who played the elder brother within the original. But Madhavan is off to Chicago to get his knee injury looked into."

As things stand the makers of the Hindi remake insist on looking ahead to Maddy.

We caught the actor just as he was on the brink of leave for Chicago. Maddy admitted that the director was involved in casting him within the Hindi remake of Vetaai. "Lingusamy was very insistent that I reprise my role from Vetaai. He's willing to attend for me. It is very sweet of him. But I DO NOT know if that's a good suggestion. I'M off for a 3-month physiotherapy session on the Edwards physio-centre in Chicago. I DO NOT know which way my knee goes to move after three months. Vetaai requires many action sequences. Unless I'M certain that my knee can take the tension I won't do any action scenes. So it is best in the event that they find any other actor to play Shahid Kapoor's brother."

However we hear Lingusamy won't hear of replacing Mdahavan. He would rather wait it out.

Says our source, "In his mind the director has finalized Maddy and Shahid because the brothers. The 2 heroines can be decided only after Maddy returns from his physiotherapy in Chicago."