After several false alarms, Sharmila Tagore and daughter Soha Ali Khan are likely to come together on screen for the first time in Jahnu Barua's Indo-British co-production Homing Pigeons.

Barua is reluctant to confirm the buzz, though.

"I don't know how this story has got around," he snaps, "Please don't focus on this casting coup because if things don't work out eventually, it will be embarrassing for me."

The director who has just wrapped up Har Pall with Dharmendra, Preity Zinta and Shiney Ahuja, admits that he's working on an English-language film with a period feel, set against the backdrop of tea gardens.

The story is by Barua and the screenplay has been co-written with Ferozi Anjirbag.

In talks "I have just finalised the script. I am in talks with various actors including Sharmila and Soha," says the director who plans to start shooting by the end of the year.

Incidentally, Sharmila and Soha were supposed to work together in Aparna Sen's The Jewellery Box.

But the film was temporarily shelved. Before that, there was talk about them doing a film together for Rituparno Ghosh.