Mumbai: After waiting endlessly for Salman Khan, his original choice to play Bajiaro, in his ambitious project Bajirao Mastani, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has decided to move on. He was hunting for another actor and has finally zeroed upon Salman's arch rival Shah Rukh Khan.
Mid-day had reported ('Bajirao Mastani' might be revived on 2011-09-01) that the magnum opus based on the epic love story of the renowned Maratha general Peshwa Bajirao and his half-Muslim second wife Mastani, is being revived but who would play the leading roles of Bajiaro and Mastani was still a mystery.
Bhansali's film went through a lot of casting upheavals in the last eight years. The filmmaker had announced the film in 2003 with Salman and Aishwarya Rai, but the film hit a roadblock when the then couple split. The director tried reviving the film in 2005 with Sallu and Kareena Kapoor but without any success.
An industry source reveals, "After things couldn't work out with Salman Khan, Sanjay was disheartened and didn't know who he should approach for the role. Since it's a big budget film, only a star can pull it off. A friend of Sanjay suggested he consider SRK. He was quite kicked with the idea and immediately called up King Khan and offered him the role. The actor who is aware of the film and liked the subject asked him to give him a proper narration."
Interestingly, SRK and Bhansali had issues during the release of Saawariya and Om Shanti Om; the films released on the same day. Looks like they have put those issues behind them and are willing to work together.
However, sources close to Bhansali say that he is not working on Bajirao Mastani but some other script.
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