There were huge expectations, when a section of the media reported last year, that Mahesh Babu would be playing the lead role in the Telugu remake of Bollywood hit '3 Idiots', which is to be directed by Shankar.

However, the project underwent changes and Shankar is now remaking the Aamir Khan starrer in Tamil as 'Nanban', with Vijay, Jiiva and Srikanth as heroes and Ileana as the heroine.

Explaining as to why he could not be part of the project, Mahesh Babu says, "Because I was unable to adjust dates and I was busy with prior commitments. I regret not doing the '3 Idiots' remake."