Ayesha Kapur in Shekhar Kapoor’s Paani

Shekhar Kapoor who returns to feature-film direction after seven years with the much-anticipated ‘Paani’ has finally found his female lead.

And the girl who gets the prized role in Shekhar's futuristic love story is none other than Ayesha Kapur, that incredible bundle of talent who at age 11 ripped the screen apart in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ‘Black’.

9 years later Ayesha, now a stunning 20-year old, is back to claim fame as a leading lady. In-between she did an endearing role as a Kashmiri girl in Piyush Jha's ‘Sikandar’. While the ‘Paani’ team has been sworn into silence by the film's producers Yash Raj Films, a source close to the project says, "Shekhar Kapoor's film is a futuristic Romeo & Juliet set in the Mumbai city in the future when water is the greatest wealth. Sushant plays a boy from the lower city who steals into the higher city where he meets Ayesha Kapur."

Apparently, Shekhar wanted a British actress to play the lead in ‘Paani’. He had approached the ‘Twilight’ actress Kristen Stewart and the ‘Harry Potter’ actress Emma Watson. Those didn't work out.