The real reason why Ram Lakhan was shelved

1. No Ram 

Says a source, “All the Gen Next stars —Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra, Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh —were approached for Ram Lakhan. Everybody wanted to work with Rohit, who is known for making blockbusters, but nobody wanted to be Ram. Lakhan is the soul of the film. It was just impossible to cast Ram, which also needed a A-list actor. Unfortunately, no one wanted to play big brother.

2. Script issues

A source in the know says the script needed reworking to suit current sensibilities and the problem with that was, changing it too much would mean an entirely new film, so the whole point of a remake was lost. And not changing it would mean that the film would have looked dated.

3. Rohit, KJo have moved on

Rohit is currently working on Golmaal 4, which has Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor and Kunal Kemmu as the principal characters, while Karan has got busy with his many other productions and his directorial film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. They will return to work together but might not be the same film.

But...

Word is, KJo paid Ghai `5 crore for the remake rights of Ram Lakhan. Also, it’s known that the film is close to Rohit’s heart and he will definitely make it some day. In some other form.