Fardeen Khan has a big challenge ahead of him as he plays his father Feroz Khan’s role in the Sanjay Gupta’s remake of the 1980s blockbuster “Qurbani”. Sources said if Gupta had not come forward to take the responsibility, the project would have gone into cold storage. “The flamboyant Feroz Khan is not keeping well. Gupta is a die-hard Feroz Khan fan and this remake will be his way of paying tribute to the cinema of 1980s that he has always admired,” a source said.

Khan was so impressed by Gupta’s enthusiasm that he decided to produce “Kurbani” jointly with him. Though Fardeen is slated to step into his father’s shoes, a decision on who’ll play the roles Vinod Khanna, Zeenat Aman and Amjad Khan is yet to be taken.

This is a big test for Fardeen whose last few films have not done that well at the box office. Gupta was faced with the choice of casting Vinod and Amjad’s sons, but found the idea too gimmicky.

The sources said Mallika Sherawat may get to play Zeenat Aman’s role. Some of “Qurbani” songs like ‘Aap jaisa koi” will be retained. An official announcement is expected to be made soon, the sources said.