Producer Madhu Mantena, who was associated with HMV-Saregama, will apply for the rights of Dev Anand melodies. These, say a source, would not be applied to the film in any random fashion.

The songs would be filmed keeping the mood and tempo and flavour of the original sequences, and no tampering to the core of the compositions or their screen interpretations at all. Apparently, director Vikramaditya Motwane would shoot the songs in black-and-white.

Ranveer, a huge Dev Anand fan, would be shown as a Dev Anand fan in the film, sporting the same hairstyle, clothes, attitude and of course the songs. When we asked producer Mantena about the Dev Anand influence on "Lootera", he said, "We're most certainly going all-out to get the mood right.

Beyond that it would be premature to reveal our exact plans. Vikramaditya would be the best person to throw light on how Ranveer's character will be presented in 'Lootera'.

" While Motwane remained tight-lipped, Ranveer did mention, " 'Lootera' is the only film that I've signed after 'Ladies Vs Ricky Behl'. Of course, there's a huge amount of preparation involved.

Though the film is set in Kolkata, I don't play a Bengali." After conman, Ranveer is all set to play a swashbuckling hero in the 1950s film.

And to get into the vintage mood, Ranveer has reportedly asked the makers of "Lootera" to grant him time to understand the period, and that includes studying cinema and songs of Dev Anand. Meanwhile, recreating West Bengal of the 1950s for "Lootera" is proving to be a far more expensive affair than the producers had bargained for (less)