MUMBAI: John Abraham was the first choice of director Anthony D’Souza for the big budget underwater action adventure Blue. But he had to settle for Zayed Khan instead after John couldn’t give the dates.

“I’m very fond of John and he was my first choice for the role that Zayed is playing now,” said D’Souza, who is debuting as a director with Blue.

“John could not do the film because of personal reasons and prior commitments. After John, I had Zayed in mind and I am glad that things worked out with him. But I hope to work with John in future,” he added.

The film also stars Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Kartina Kaif and Rahul Dev. Blue is said to be the costliest Bollywood film till date — it is being made at a whopping INRs1,290 million, but the director wants it to be called a good film than a big-budget film.