South beauty Ileana D'cruz has been roped in by ace director Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his next directorial venture 'Gabbar'. The film is a remake of 2002 Tamil blockbuster film 'Ramana'. Veteran South Indian director Krish will make his debut in the Bollywood with this film.

The tall and fair lass who made her debut in Bollywood with Anurag Basu 's ' Barfi! ' , will feature opposite action man Akshay Kumar in this film. Akshay and Bhansali have teamed up again after witnessing the success of their previous joint venture ' Rowdy Rathore '. According to the source, Ileana got flooded with lots of offers after her fabulous performance in her debut film. Many filmmakers noticed the spark in this southern beauty and gave her offers. She will be next seen in Ramesh S Taurani and Raj Kumar Santoshi 's ' Phata Poster Nikla Hero ' opposite Shahid Kapoor and now in 'Gabbar' as well.

'Gabbar' will commence the shooting after Akshay finishes with his previous projects, Milan Luthria 's ' Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Again ' and ' Boss ' by Ashwin Varde . 'Gabbar' will highlight the story of a fight against corruption where Akshay will play the lead role. It will be interesting to watch Akshay and Ileana together on screen. The source said, it is an unlikely pairing which Bhansali is trying to explore.